I'm in Your Veins
by Just-Another-Mindless-Writer
Summary: After the massacre of her family, Marlene awoke alone in the trainstations that all wizards go to once they die. The same train station where the Marauders would finally be reunited, even if it took a lifetime. Sequeal to 'You're in My Veins' Rated T for character deaths and Language.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is a little sequel i wrote after Marlene's death in 'You're in My Veins'**

 **I hope you enjoy it and please review.**

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Marlene wasn't sure where she was, she wasn't really sure of anything right now. She didn't even know for sure who she was. She could feel herself lying on her back, the floor far from uncomfortable against her skin. Her body was naked, she knew that, there was nothing between her and the floor, yet it didn't bother her too much. She didn't feel cold, she didn't properly feel anything.

Still, she could feel, and if she could feel, she may be able to do other things. Taking a deep breath, reveling at the fact she could still breathe, Marlene opened her eyes. She thought for a moment she was blind; there was nothing but whiteness surrounding her, everything so impeccably clean that there appeared to be nothing but the whiteness, no ceiling, no floor, no walls.

But she could feel the floor; she could feel it beneath her as clearly as she could feel her own arm. Sitting up slowly, Marlene was amazed that her body wasn't aching. She was dead, surely she should feel something, if she could feel the floor against her skin then she must be able to feel the pain of death, an aching feeling like being hit by a muggle bus. But she felt whole. She had all her limbs, exactly the way she remembered them, long and pale, slender and a tiny bit freckled.

She could feel a tingling in her fingers as she flexed them slightly, bunching her hands into a fist and out again. Her hair was falling down her bare back, tickling the skin just below her shoulder blades. Groping around with her hands, feeling like she'd forgotten how to use them, she grabbed for the hair, feeling the loose curls, silky to the touch against her fingertips. Pulling it around to before her eyes she saw it was still the light blonde she remembered.

As she looked around she saw a mist coating the floor, the soft swirling patterns curving around her body. She thought for a moment of what had happened to her, what her last day had entailed. Thinking back, trying to pick apart the details in her mind. She remembered immediately what she had been wearing, and before she could remember anything else they appeared before her. Picking the clothes up she examined them, the skinny light-washed jeans, ripped and frayed in so many places, and the overly large grey jumper.

Excitement bubbling through her, she pulled on the clothes, wondrous as to how warm and dry they felt, cleansed of any dirt or grime. Curious as to her surroundings, Marlene looked around her. At first she saw nothing, but then, as though the room was encouraged be her curiosity, it began to take shape. Walls were forming around her, the floor taking shape as clean, spotless concrete, a glittering glass dome forming the roof above her head. She thought for a moment that she was in a palace, but then seats began to form, clean and white, all across the floor. She was in a station, an obscenely familiar train station, but she couldn't put her finger on how she knew the place.

"You shouldn't be here," Said a voice Marlene knew. It was warm and comforting, but sad as well, and Marlene turned towards it so fast she was sure she'd have snapped her neck if her predictions weren't correct. Marlene's eyes fell upon a woman who stood a few feet away from her on the platform. She wasn't very tall, shorter than Marlene was, with naturally tanned skin. Her hair was a soft, chocolate brown and fell in waves to just above her shoulders, her hazel eyes as misty as Marlene always remembered, giving the woman a curious and skeptical expression whenever she looked at someone. "It's too soon."

"Dorcas!" Marlene shouted, aghast, but running towards the girl none the less. They collided in a tight, hug, both of the girls clinging on desperately to the other, Marlene's hands bunched in the back of the floral material, reveling in the familiar, warm scent. "But you're – you were dead." Marlene said, feeling the familiar prickling behind her eyes as Dorcas smiled a sad, pitiful smile.

"I am dead, Mar," she replied as the two girls pulled away from one another, Marlene's hands gripping the top of Dorcas's arms as Dorcas's hazel eyes turned teary – Dorcas was always a crier.

"So, that means that I'm – I'm really dead." Marlene said, letting her hands fall lamely to her sides. "So this is where we go after we die?" she asked, looking around in confusion "A train station?" she said and Dorcas rolled her eyes as Marlene looked around in slight distaste, clearly uncomfortable with the cleanliness. "But wait! What about my family, they're all-" But Marlene couldn't finish.

"They've already gone. You're mother told me to say they'd be waiting for you."

"Even Decky, and Nate too?"

"All of them." She said, smiling kindly at Marlene.

"But, if they're already gone, why am I still here? Why are you still here? You died weeks ago!" Marlene said, astonished to the girls presence.

"You have a choice, Marlene, whether or not you board the train." She said "I thought that would be obvious."

"Well apparently not." Marlene said, crossing her arms over her chest, feeling like the stupid girl she was in school whenever Dorcas got an easy answer right and Marlene didn't.

"Besides, I've got no one to wait for me." She continued "My family is still going, living their lives. I'd be all alone."

"You say that like it's a bad thing?" Marlene questioned, raising an eyebrow at her friend.

"It isn't, it really isn't, I'm so happy they're still alive" Dorcas assured "but I miss them, and they miss me, and I'm scared that one day soon, they're just going to forget I ever existed."

"We didn't forget you, Doe." Marlene said, grabbing onto the other witches hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"I know." She replied with a smile "I've been watching you all, seeing what you did with your lives. Well done for standing up to Sirius's brother by the way." she said and Marlene's breath snagged. Sirius, she remembered him, the touch of his skin against hers, his breath in her ears, how he'd wriggled under her skin, and the way that his eyes had looked at her from Regulus's face as she died.

"I'd hardly say I stood up to him," Marlene said, not out of modesty, but belief.

"I think you did." Dorcas said bluntly. "I've spoken to some passers by, people who were killed by Regulus too. There weren't as many as you'd expect, six I think, and yet they all said the same thing. He made them look away; he couldn't bear to see the life leave their eyes. It's quite noble really."

"Noble!" Marlene screeched, releasing Dorcas's hand like it burned. "He wasn't noble! He was a fucking coward. He had no problem with killing children like Decky and Nate. Since when was murder a noble act?" Marlene spat, but Dorcas didn't flinch, she never used to when Marlene would shout and swear at her, spouting insults like she was a crude human dictionary.

"He doesn't know what he's got himself into." Dorcas reasoned "If you could have seen him after you died, he was horrified!"

"Glad to know I've sparked some emotion into that cold bastard." She sneered, taking a few steps away from Dorcas, the other girl didn't follow, and she never usually did.

"I don't think you understand, Mar." Dorcas said, but Marlene was barely listening. "he could only kill someone when their backs were turned, he couldn't bear to see the light leave their eyes because he couldn't bear that he was killing them. He never thought this was what was going to happen when he joined You-Know-Who."

"So, what? Is he the fucking victim now? Because the last I checked, I'm the one who was fucking murdered!" Marlene shouted indignantly.

"I'm not saying he's a victim, I'm saying that he's not what you think he is. He offered to let you go."

"That was lie."

"Merlin!" Dorcas exclaimed, grabbing onto her hair, "I'd forgotten how stubborn you could be!" Marlene's mouth fell open, here she was, seeing her friend for the first time since she'd died and she was criticizing her. "Just, just look down there." Dorcas said, pointing towards the edge of the platform where trains would arrive and depart.

Arms crossed and scowling, Marlene walked towards the edge, peeking over only slightly. Instead of seeing a white train track, she saw her home, shattered and destroyed, the bodies of her and her family still lying battered and bloody on the floor. As Marlene watched, she saw as Regulus was frozen, his wand by his side, staring blankly at Marlene's crumpled body on the floor.

"Is this a sick joke?" Marlene asked, but she couldn't take her eyes away. There she was, cold and limp on the floor, all the life gone from her. But she was here, she was alive, (almost) and she was thinking for herself and talking with her friend like nothing had changed. Except everything had changed, they were both gone, dead.

"I've been up here for long enough that I've gotten used to observing the world." Dorcas said from Marlene's shoulder. "And Regulus Black is someone of kept my eye on. And I can tell you now, he doesn't want to do this. He doesn't want to kill." She said reasonably but Marlene was still far from convinced.

"Well then why the fuck does he do it?" Marlene asked bitterly, watching as Regulus knelt beside her body, moving the blonde curls away from her face.

"Because he has to." Dorcas shrugged.

"Nobody _has_ to do anything. I didn't _have_ to die, did I?" she half shouted, but she couldn't take her eyes away from the scene below, no matter how hard she tried.

"I think you did." Dorcas replied idly, doing what she so often used to do, talking to herself. "I don't mean that in a 'you didn't deserve to live' way, because we both know that you did, even if you did spend half your life trying to destroy yourself. What I mean is I feel that without you dying, so many people's lives wouldn't change."

"Are you going to explain your stupid theory?" Marlene snapped, but Dorcas just rolled her eyes.

"Take Regulus for example. By standing up to him, by making him look you in the eyes as he killed you, it's all become real to him, he knows what he's doing and all that he's done and he can't bear it – look! - look what he's doing now!" Dorcas said, pointing to the image, Marlene having looked away to gaze as Dorcas like she was crazy.

"Is he – Is that bastard crying over me!" Marlene screamed, pointing hysterically at the image of the world below her "How fucking dare he do-"

"Shh!" Dorcas said, slapping her arm gently, receiving a shocked look from Marlene. "He is crying, yes, but he's also moving you."

The two girls watched in silence as the younger man gently lifted Marlene's body from the floor, both wincing as Marlene's head lolled helplessly on her shoulders, before he began walking up the stairs. He carried her to her room, kicking the door open gently before entering, laying Marlene down delicately, as though afraid of hurting her, on her own bed, laying her down in such a way she could appear to be sleeping. Marlene's body was still, each of her freckles prominent on her ivory skin as Regulus slowly placed a finger on either eyelid, shutting her eyes for her before apparating away.

"You see." Dorcas said, nudging Marlene's shoulder with her own, but the other girl didn't move.

"What did he say?" she asked, biting her lip slightly. "When he shut my eyes, what did he say?"

"I think he said he was sorry." Dorcas replied quietly, watching as Marlene bit her pink lips, clenching her eyes shut tightly. Dorcas had known Marlene long enough, had seen her enough times after a fight with Sirius to know she was holding back her own tears.

"I thought that's what he said." Marlene replied solemnly.

"Marlene, I think you just saved him." Dorcas said and Marlene rounded on her with such rage, Dorcas was surprised she wasn't burned by it.

"Saved him? Why would I want to save him?"

"It wasn't intentional; you're far too stubborn for that kind of selflessness." Dorcas said with a cheeky smile as Marlene huffed. "But by showing him what he was, everything he had done, you saved him from doing more terrible things. I think you just saved that mans humanity."

"In which case," Marlene said, a vicious glint in her eyes. "I'm going to wait for him right here."

"Why?" Dorcas asked carefully, watching as the girl sat herself down on the nearest seat, crossing her arms across her chest.

"So that when he does get here, and I hope it's soon, I can beat seven shades of shite out of him." Marlene said with a sickly sweet smile.

"Marlene!" Dorcas said abashed by the girl's attitude. "That's not the way this works." She said, trying desperately to reason with the girl.

"It is if you're Scottish," Marlene said with a shrug.

"You're honestly going to spend eternity waiting for him to turn up, just to beat him up?" Dorcas said sounding incredulous, but Marlene just nodded and began whistling to herself. "Merlin, I'd forgotten how immoral you were." Dorcas said, rolling her eyes and sitting next to the whistling girl. "I wouldn't change you for the world though." She said and Marlene smiled back. And so the two friends began their wait for their friends, watching over them all like angels.

Dorcas would mope about Remus, claim he wasn't coping very well without her, wishing she could go back and comfort him while Marlene teased her relentlessly for fancying Moony, something that turned the girl red in face.

Marlene watched, helpless as Sirius began his decent into madness, from the drinking and the fighting, to the meaningless sex. She'd been jealous the first time Sirius traipsed into an unknown apartment with a scabby, dyed-blonde freak with heeled boots and fishnets. She'd envied every moment she'd spent with him, his body pressed against her. She'd got so mad the first time she saw this that she'd needed to throw something. Dorcas only just managed to dodge the vase that Marlene had somehow made appear out of nowhere.

But the jealousy faded fast. Marlene would watch as Sirius lay awake, staring at the ceiling while the lackey of a woman beside him slept on. She'd hear him speaking into thin air, watch as he snuck away during the night, only to return home and sit with his back against the wall, falling asleep with a bottle in his hand and a cigarette between his lips.

He visited her gave a few times, the one in her family plot, her name engraved on a grey granite tombstone. He'd sit there for hours, not usually saying anything, just staring at the stone, reading the words etched on the surface. Then he'd talk for a little while, tell her how things were going, how there was a traitor among them in the order, and how they had no idea who it was.

"I think it's Remus." Sirius said blankly one day, sat in front of the grave in the snow, not making any effort to warm himself aside from the drags he kept taking on his cigarette. Whenever he pulled a new one from the packet, he'd drop one in front of the grave. Most people would leave flowers and tokens of affection, but Sirius knew Marlene better than that, he knew that she'd wanted nothing more out of the afterlife than to drink and smoke and shag her life away. "

That's all she ever did when she was alive after all, that and being traditionally reckless, fighting a war along side her friends before they'd even left school. "They can offer him so much, the death eaters, and with James and Lily in hiding, Peter never being around and Dorcas and you being – I just don't think he's coping well." He said flicking away his fourth cigarette but onto a nearby flowerbed, watching it roll across the freshly fallen snow. "Why'd you do it, Marly? Why'd you leave?" he asked, his voice so helpless and broken as Marlene watched from her bench in Kings Cross, her knees to her chest, Dorcas standing awkwardly a few feet away.

"I'm sorry, Sirius," she said quietly her eyes stinging from the tears she held back as Sirius stood up, a breeze ruffling through his shaggy hair, his eyes closing at the strange contact before turning and walking away, kicking a nearby tree before turning on the spot and disappearing into nothing.

"It'll be okay, Mar," Dorcas said, sitting next to her on the bench and going to put her arm around the girls shoulders, but Marlene shrugged her off, wiping her face subtly with the edge of her sleeve.

"No it wont."


	2. Chapter 2

"The little rat!" Marlene screeched as she watched the scene below her unfold. It had been nine months now since she'd died and life for her friends had moved on. Sirius's decent into depression had somewhat calmed, having him only drinking some nights of the week, Remus was drifting away from the others, their trust in one another faltering slightly and James and Lily were in hiding, living contently in their cottage in Godric's Hollow, the very same house Marlene and Dorcas were watching now as a shadowy figure approached the door. "He sold them out the bastard!"

"I can't watch this," Dorcas said, but her terrified eyes remained glued to the house that the shadowy figure had just entered. The cottage was a quaint little place, Tudor in appearance with the white exterior and dark panels. It was October now and everything was dark, the only light on the streets coming from two of the cottages windows. Through one was the silhouette of two people locked in one another's embrace, spinning and dancing happily, the joyous sound of their laughter filling the emptiness.

"They'll make it, Doe," Marlene said, her voice only half shaking, "They have to." She said and grabbed the other woman's tanned hand in her own pale and freckled one, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

There was a crash and the couple stopped moving, the taller of the two silhouettes pulled his wand from his pocket, gesturing for the other, a woman with a slim build with long hair falling down her back to remain still as he slowly left the view of the window. With bated breath the three women, two dead and one alive, stood motionless as they awaited the mans return only to be met with another crash and a definitive curse.

"Lily!" The man shouted, the woman gasping at the terror and exertion in his voice. "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him!" The woman froze for a second before shouting back her voice thick with tears.

"James!" she shouted back desperately, moving slightly so as to follow after him.

"Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" he shouted and though the woman took a hesitant step forwards, she then turned, her hair flying around her as she disappeared from the windows sights.

"This is not happening, this is not happening." Dorcas said clutching her head in her hands as Marlene, ever the stronger one, held her, watching the scene unfold from afar. The woman, Lily, had reached the other lit window now and was bowed low over something out of the image while the man had entered the frame downstairs the couple had been dancing in only moments ago.

Marlene watched, her face baron of emotion as the duel commenced between the two silhouettes below them, one scruffy haired man and one figure obviously cloaked, the yellow light of the window flashing green and red every time another spell was performed. And then the flashes stopped, the two figures standing still for only a second, before the scruffy haired man fell to the floor like a marionette with it's strings cut.

"No," Marlene whispered and Dorcas's body shook uncontrollably in her arms, the girl sobbing agonisingly in Marlene's arms.

Behind her Marlene heard a distant, confused grumbling. Turning around she saw a tall, strongly built man with scruffy black hair pulling a grey t-shirt over his head before pushing his square glasses further up onto his nose. He was looking around, taking a few tentative steps with his bare feet and looking at his limbs like he hadn't seen them in years.

"James," Marlene breathed, and the man turned, his hazel eyes meeting hers before they widened greatly. He barely had a chance to say her name before she'd thrown herself at him, wrapping her slender arms around his neck and pulling him into the tightest hug she could manage, horrified that he was here and terrified that he might disappear again.

"Marlene, holy crap, it's really you," he said running a hand over the girls blonde hair.

"You shouldn't be here!" Marlene said shoving James away from her, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. "You're supposed to live and have hundred of babies and grow old with Lily!" she said, smacking his arm every few seconds, but James hardly reacted. He was far too busy marvelling at Marlene and the fact that she was there, talking and slapping the way she always used to. "You shouldn't be here."

"I know," he said hugging her again, the two people who were as close as siblings relishing in the others presences, too afraid to let go and lose them again. The moment only broke when a woman's voice shattered the air.

"Marlene! He's found her!" Dorcas shouted and Marlene pulled away, her face terrified as she grabbed James's hand and dragged him over to the edge of the platform.

"Marlene, what's happening?" he asked his eyes wide and his voice panicked as Marlene pointed over the edge of the platform to the silhouette of the woman in the cottages window. She was stood between the cloaked man and what Marlene knew to be a crib, a wand pointed at her chest as her anguished sobs filled the air around the station.

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead-" she screamed, her arms gesturing wildly to her chest, her voice broken as she begged.

"This is my last warning-" said a cold, cruel voice that sent a cool sensation down Marlene's spine and Dorcas in her hysterical state visibly shook with horror.

"We have to help her!" James said, lunging forward, but both Marlene and Dorcas held him back.

"We can't, James!" Dorcas half screamed, her voice choked by tears as she tried desperately to restrain her friend.

"Not Harry!" they heard Lily scream and Marlene felt as James's muscles tensed in her grip, any moment now he was going to get through.

"James, please, you're not thinking this through!" Dorcas pleaded.

"No, you're not! I can help her, I can save her!" he shouted back.

"Have mercy! Not Harry!"

"Let me go!" he shouted, struggling against the two women who held him by either arm, knowing that if they let him go he'd be trapped.

"James, stop it! You can't do this!" Marlene was the one to try and reason with him now, fighting against the pull of the grunting man.

"I can do it!" he shouted, his face reddening in anger, the veins standing out prominently on his neck as he pulled harder and harder, Dorcas's feet dragging slightly on the clean platform floor.

"Please – I'll do anything" Lily pleaded before the curtains were illuminated green, her body falling to the floor with a dull thump as Harry's cries became the only sound.

James's body fell limp, his knees colliding with the platform floor as he clutched his head in his hands, letting out a desperate and anguished scream into the silence.

"James," Dorcas said, putting a hand on the mans shoulder but he didn't move,, he didn't even acknowledge her. "James, I'm so sorry."

"Why didn't you let me go?" he asked, his voice so broken and pitiful it made Marlene's eyes prickle slightly with unshed tears.

"I think you know why," Dorcas said consolingly, her voice so calm and warm, it wrapped its way around Marlene's heart, telling her it wasn't going to be so bad, even when she knew it was a lie.

"I could have saved her," He said quietly as Dorcas rubbed soothing patterns on his back, just between his shoulder blades.

"No you couldn't, James and you know that," Marlene said, her arms crossed over her chest, biting her lip so hard she was sure she'd rip the skin, trying feverously to withhold her tears, to be strong. "I'm sorry James," she said placing her hand on his shoulder, letting him grab a hold of it with his own.

"She shouldn't have died, if I'd just held him back longer, if I'd-"

"Will you stop punishing yourself?" Marlene exclaimed, grabbing his hand tighter and attempting to drag him to his feet so he was standing before her, his face red as the tears continued to fall. "You did what you had to do and now you're dead, I think that shows you did your best, don't you?"

"I guess-" James began, but was cut off by another voice.

"James!" the woman called, her voice thick with tears as James turned towards her.

"Lily!" he shouted back before he took off running across the platform, colliding with the young beautiful woman before him, wrapping her in his arms as she clung helplessly to his chest.

"I'm so sorry James, I tried, I really did but he just wouldn't listen." Lily sobbed as James stroked her fiery hair, whispering soothing words into her ear. "He's going to kill him, our little boy," she cried, her voice so anguished and broken that Marlene felt the tears pooling in her eyes threatening to spill over. She hadn't cried for months, not since she'd died. "Marlene!" the girl suddenly shouted and Marlene tore her gaze from the floor and looking into the terrified green eyes of her best friend.

"Hey, Lils," she said weakly before the redhead threw herself at her, colliding with her friend so that they both fell backwards painlessly onto the floor of the platform. "You really shouldn't be here," Marlene said clutching onto the slim girl in her arms, barely listening as James embraced Dorcas properly.

"And neither should you!" Lily said pushing the blonde girl slightly, her smile bright despite the tears falling down her face. "Wait, is this Kings Cross?" the red-head said, looking at the ceiling curiously before standing back to her feet, smoothing out her white blouse as she stood, her face almost the same shade as her hair. "Why on earth are we at a train station?"

The other shrugged, Marlene scrambling to try and stand back up again with he friends.

"I think it's purgatory," Dorcas said, tucking her wavy hair behind her ears as Lily stared at her with wide green eyes.

"Dorcas-" she started but the girl put a hand up to silence her, her tanned face tear stained and her smile watery as she looked at her old friend.

"We can move on if we want to, like Marlene's family, or we can stay here and wait, watch as others leave to go to wherever's next, it's up to us," she said looking around at the three friends around her. James had his arms around Lily, holding her to him as hard as he could without hurting her, kissing her head every few seconds making her smile, while Marlene stood with her arms wrapped around herself, tear tracks prominent on her pale face as she tried brushing them away.

"We'll wait," Lily said quickly, her voice quiet but strong as the others look at her questioningly. "He's in our home and there's no one else there to protect Harry. I am waiting for my son." The others nodded solemnly, Dorcas moving slightly over to the platform, followed by Marlene but James held Lily back.

"You don't want to watch this," he said but she pushed herself off her.

"Don't tell me what I want," she said and turned to follow her friends, grabbing Marlene's hand as she looked over the edge of the platform, a sob breaking out of her mouth as she saw the battered remains of her home.

"Shit," Marlene said, looking at the desolation left behind. "He didn't have the blow up the fucking house!" she exclaimed angrily but Lily, though crying, was looking confusedly around her.

"He's not here?" she said to questioning looks from the others. "That part of the house was his room and it's destroyed. Why isn't Harry here?" her eyes were panicked a she looked around but Marlene noticed the little spark of hope in them. As impossible as it seemed, Harry might not have died.

"It's Sirius!" James shouted, pointing frantically to the front of the house where a rugged looking young man with shaggy black hair and a dusting of stubble on his strong jaw was slowly dismounting a motorcycle. It only took a second before the man rushed into the house shouting for the people he loved.

"James! Lily! Where are you!" he was shouting and Marlene felt Lily's grip on her hand tighten. With most of the walls no longer present or with gaping holes the four adults could now see into the home. They watched helplessly as Sirius stumbled upon the body on the stairs, a choked sob breaking through him at the sight of his best friend lying still and lifeless on the floor. Stopping only quickly to shut the young mans hazel eyes, Sirius continued through the house, shouting for the other occupants, his voice broken. "Lily!" he shouted as he took the stairs three at a time, knocking over a pram as he stumbled onto the top landing, running straight for the room he knew to be Harry's.

He stumbled slightly at the sight; the sound of Lily's sobs filling Marlene's ears as they looked at her body. She was on her back, her arms spread out, her hair splayed like blood around her head, her green eyes open and empty.

"No," Sirius said, dropping to his knees by Lily's body, checking frantically for a pulse, Dorcas and Lily both crying helplessly either side of Marlene as she watched Sirius. Just as he'd shut Lily's eyes he started, there was someone still in the room, someone crying.

Turning around he saw the shattered remains of a crib, the blankets tattered and ripped, the crib itself nothing but splinters of wood. Amongst the debris was a baby, tiny in comparison to the desolated cot, his green eyes wide as he wailed, his black hair falling off of his forehead to reveal a thin, lighting shaped scar.

Lily gasped, grabbing James hand painfully as they watched Sirius rip off his leather jacket, carefully but quickly lifting the baby from the rubble and wrapping him in the thick material, shushing the child slightly as he rocked him.

"Come on, Harry," he said looking at Lily's body, "Let's get you some place safe," he said and left the house, trying his hardest not to look at James's body on the stairs, focusing all his attention instead on the crying bundle in his arms.

"He's alive!" Lily shouted, jumping up and throwing her arms around a stunned James's shoulders. "He's okay!" she screamed and the two adults began to laugh, James spinning Lily around and kissing her face. Their baby was alive, and Voldemort was gone, they had all the reason to celebrate.

"Hagrid's taken him," Dorcas said with a teary smile, as overjoyed as the married couple that the baby was alive and well, "He's taking him to Dumbledore," she said and Lily smiled wider than Marlene thought possible, her green eyes still red as she cried happily.

"What's Sirius doing now?" Marlene asked curiously, watching as he stared at the house before walking down the streets, apparating after a few steps and disappearing.

"Oh shit," James said, Lily slapping his arm slightly as the others gave him questioning looks. "He's going after Peter. Sirius will kill him for this."

"All this time, he thought it was Remus," Marlene said, looking down at the now empty street. "So is this it now?" Marlene asked, her eyes tearing up once again. "Are you two going over?"

"Of course not!" Lily said abashed by the question. "We said we'd wait for our son and we will." She said defiantly and James laughed.

"Well said, love," he said, kissing the top of her head. "We're not going anywhere."

"They're so happy." Dorcas said longingly, watching as Lily and James become enveloped in each others kiss.

"It's going to be a long few years," Marlene said, running a hand over her face while Dorcas ogled the couple, unable to get the image of Sirius's despair from her mind. He was going to do something rash, and it wasn't going to end well for anyone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Since I'm not great at updating and I've already got a fair bit of this story pre-wrtitten, I'm just publishing as much of it as I can before I have to go to work ;)**

 **Let me know what you think of it!**

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They watched, all four of them as the Wizarding World rejoiced in the Dark Lords downfall. They watched as Remus fell deeper in on himself, hiding away from the world, convinced his best friend was a traitor, horrified by the others deaths. They watched Sirius as he cornered Peter and watched horrified as Peter escaped, leaving Sirius labelled a murderer, sentenced to a life in Azkaban for something they all knew he didn't do.

And of course they watched Harry, watched him grow, looking more and more like his father with his scruffy hair but they all knew he had Lily's eyes. Lily watched angrily at how her sister was treating Harry, furious with how he was being raised that more than once she managed to wish up something to kick or throw out of anger only for James to hold her and comfort her.

They watched as he started Hogwarts, meeting Molly Weasley's son on the train and being sorted into Gryffindor like his parents. James was particularly impressed with how he and his new friends battled a troll on Halloween, Lily being too nervous to watch and so covered her face with her hands until it was over.

Every trial and every tribulation, they were all their, his mother and his father watching over him, as he solved riddles, fought off Voldemort once again and even through the traumatising of his classmates.

"I'm so proud of him," Lily said as they watched Harry during his second year as he laughed with his friends in the Gryffindor common room. James and Lily spent all their time sat on the platform, watching as their son grew up, Marlene and Dorcas watching their joy from the sidelines.

"I know, did you see the way they flew that car?" James exclaimed as Marlene laughed from beside Lily.

"We don't want to be encouraging that!" she shouted, slapping James chest as Marlene giggled away. Dorcas was preoccupied, having orientated herself as an angel of death, advising people on how to pass over, telling them that their family was waiting or that their cat would be fine without them.

"Marlene," James said as the two of them sat alone on the platform. Lily had gone to help Dorcas with a particularly traumatised new arrival who kept begging to be let go, that she wasn't dead and that her mother still needed her.

"Yeah," she responded, watching Harry as he sat at his friend, Hermione's bedside, holding her still, cold hand, her brown eyes glassed over from being petrified.

"Did we ever tell you that you were Harry's godmother?" he asked casually, watching the confused expression fall over her face as she watched him watching Harry.

"Are you fucking with me?" she asked and James laughed, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

"You'd gone before we could tell you, and then when Dumbledore finally let us visit, it was too late."

"Well now I know I'll be sure to watch him more intently," she said, nudging James in the ribs with her elbow as he chuckled beside her.

"I really did miss you, Mar," he said and she scoffed, pushing him away slightly.

"As if, you were off playing happy families with her," she said with a playful smile. "I bet you never even noticed I was gone." She said and he smiled down at her cheekily.

"Of course I did," he said "With Sirius moping around drunk at out doorstep most nights it was a little hard to forget," he said cheekily and Marlene smiled her response.

"James," she said quietly, aware that Lily and Dorcas were finishing up with the kooky young woman who refused to leave the platform, afraid her husband wasn't waiting for her yet.

"Yeah," he replied just as quietly.

"I'd love to be Harry's godmother."

* * *

"He's done it!" James exclaimed excitedly, waiting the black dog as it shook itself dry of the sea water before taking off into the darkness.

"He's actually fucking done it!" Marlene shouted, joining in as James punched the air, laughing proudly as Lily tried her hardest not to scowl at the situation.

"This isn't good, James," she worriedly, "They're not going to rest until they find him, he was safer where he was," she said reasonably but it all seemed to just skim past James who was far too busy laughing and joking with Marlene about his great escape.

"He's the first person to escape Azkaban, Lils, we're allowed to celebrate that at least," Marlene said, smiling at James catcalling behind her as he whooped and cheered. "He's going to find Harry after all" she said and Lily finally cracked a smile.

"I supposed that does make a difference, maybe he'll get Harry out of that horrible place before he's thoroughly scarred," she said and Marlene threw her arm over her shoulder, pulling her over to the edge of the platform to watch Sirius running through the streets, one thought in his deranged mind. Find the rat.

That year seemed to spark everyone interest far more than the other twelve had. They'd watch anxiously as Sirius continued to appear at Hogwarts, sneaking in through the secret passageways and hiding out in the shrieking shack while also watching Remus doing the one thing he'd always loved. Teaching.

"He looks a lot older," Dorcas said, watching Remus as he sat in his cluttered office drinking a small cup of tea, the grindylow sitting agitatedly in the tank against the wall, the sky dark outside the office window.

"Well he is old, Doe," Marlene said, nudging her shoulder slightly, smiling cheekily at the tanned girl.

"You know what I mean, Marlene," she said, pulling at a loose thread on her grey cardigan, scuffing a shoes on the floor. "He doesn't look like he's taking transformation well." She said reasonably, Marlene sighing in response.

"He's been living in poverty; of course he's not been doing very well. But he's getting better." Marlene reassured, "Look, he's even got a picture of us on his desk," she said pointing to the photograph of them all them one Christmas before all the destruction. Lily and James were sat on a sofa in their first home before Godric's Hollow, cuddled happily by the fire with Mary sat awkwardly smiling next to them and little Harry sat on their lap. Sirius was sat on the arm of the sofa, an arm pulling Marlene closer as he dangled mistletoe above their heads while Remus and Peter stood behind the group with Dorcas between them, Peter smiling shyly and Remus casting glances at Dorcas as she smiled brightly. They were all dressed beautifully, the girls in dresses and the boys in suits, Sirius having abandoned the tradition of a tie and blazer sitting instead in a partly unbuttoned shirt and a completely unbuttoned waistcoat.

"That was only a few days before I died," Dorcas said solemnly, looking at Remus who smiled happily at the picture, clearly remembering a happier time in his life.

"You and me both," Marlene said grabbing Dorcas's hand and squeezing, remembering, like Remus, how much happier she was back then having just turned twenty and having her entire life in front of her. "You and me both."

* * *

"You don't understand!" Whined Peter. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"This isn't going to end well," Dorcas said. Like the others they were all watching the events unfold in the shrieking shack. Sirius was stood facing Peter, his matted hair hanging to his elbows, his teeth yellow and face so thin its looked skeletal, his eyes bright and manic as he looked at the pathetic man before him.

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius roared, the mania in his eyes blazing like a wildfire. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOU'RE FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

"Well said, Padfoot!" James cheered and Lily did nothing to scold him. Dorcas was actually having to hold Lily back to stop her trying to jump off the platform and into the living world, an act that caused something worse than death. "I knew you'd find him!" Marlene smirked slightly at James before looking back at Sirius. He looked almost dead, like a corpse with living eyes, breathing heavy and raggedly next to one of his best friends, facing off the traitor that ended his best friend's life. But he was still Sirius, Marlene could see it, despite the mania and the borderline insanity the fire in his grey eyes was unmistakeable.

"You should have realised," Remus said quietly, standing shoulder to shoulder with Sirius, Dorcas watching his every move. "If Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Goodbye, Peter."

"They're actually going to do it," Dorcas said, no longer restraining Lily who was watching intently, her face reddened slightly from anger.

"Looks like we're having a reunion later, guys." Marlene said, smiling at her friends, a cold, evil glint in her eyes and Dorcas, unlike when she'd said the same about Regulus, nodded her agreement.

"They can kill him, but he wont be free, not yet." Lily said coldly, everyone casting nervous glances at the usually maternal red-head, all but Marlene who smiled back proudly.

"No!" Harry yelled as he ran forward, placing himself between the old friends, two wands pointing at his face. "you can't kill him," He said breathlessly. "You can't"

"Jeez kid," Marlene breathed out. "There's a time and a place to be a hero." She said rolling her eyes, receiving a glare from Lily.

"He knows what he's doing," she said warningly at Marlene and the other girl held up her hands in mock defence.

"If you say so," she said and continued watching the events unfold.

They watched as Harry and Sirius spoke in the tunnel, Sirius asking Harry to live with him and Marlene felt her heart jolt at the smile on Sirius's face, the smile of the cocky teenager she knew and remembered so vividly. And then they were out into the open air, a cloud shifting slightly across the moon as Remus's body became rigid.

* * *

"This is horrible!" Dorcas said, sobbing slightly into James chest as they stood on the platform, watching the events unfold before them. "How can he do this?" she cried, unable to watch as Remus's skin tore, his bones breaking and reforming, his howling echoing into the darkness, his horrific body silhouetted against the full moon.

"It's okay, Doe," James said. Having seen Remus transform so many times he thought he'd be used to it, but even now the snarling cries of his friend and whimpering of the beast still sent shivers down his spine. "He's okay," he said but his voice was cracking slightly.

"That's fucking believable." Marlene sneered, trying her best to comfort a distraught Lily who'd never seen Remus transform before. "Well done, James." She spat and James glared at her.

Marlene being Marlene had managed to find out about Remus's condition in their seventh year after following Sirius when he snuck out of his bed, leaving her behind as he disappeared down one of the hidden tunnels. Feeling slightly insulted, she'd followed him, expecting to see him shacking up with some random Hufflepuff girl again. She'd had no idea what she was getting herself in for, she knew about Sirius's ability, he'd shown her once to show off, but she didn't know why he'd done it, she'd assumed it was a pick up technique.

She was surprised he hadn't noticed her yet, she wasn't far behind him after all, but it was only once they'd both gotten through the hatch in the shrieking shack that he knew she was there. By that time Remus hadn't started his transformation, Marlene could hear him talking to James and Peter through the walls. But then something changed and the air was suddenly filled with a sound of tearing, the screaming and the whimpering echoing throughout the house. Sirius had looked at her, an emotion of pure terror on his face as the excited howls of the werewolf began to leave the room, looking for its fellow canine companion, only to catch the scent of Marlene, finally turning vicious.

Marlene hadn't screamed, she hadn't done anything but stand and stare at the creature she knew to be Remus, the eyes so feral and inhuman, he'd kill her in seconds. And then a great black dog threw itself at the werewolf, forcing it back, snapping and snarling at the air. The commotion had obviously alerted James who, as a stag, came thundering into the hallway, pinning Remus against the wall with his great antlers, his hazel eyes shinning. Marlene ran then, feeling all of the adrenaline suddenly course through her veins. She was halfway up the tunnel before she felt a weight smash against her back, knocking her onto the floor. Turning over she came face to face with the great black dog, its teeth bared, its blazing grey eyes looking at her accusingly.

She'd never told anyone, not even when Lily found out herself. She'd even offered to become an animagus like the others so she could help, but Remus refused, claiming it was bad enough he was endangering his best friends, he didn't want to drag anyone else into it. Marlene had argued of course, but it was pointless, she gave up eventually knowing that it was Remus's choice.

"He's going to kill them," Dorcas finally said, snapping Marlene from her stupor.

"No he wont, Sirius won't let him." Marlene said strongly, her heart breaking for Remus in his state, not knowing that he could kill everyone left in the world he cared about in one swipe. And she was right, just seconds later the great black dog had thrown itself at the werewolf and the two of them went tumbling down the cliff, out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

"He's back." James said, deadpan. "He's fucking back!"

"We can see that James." Marlene said, feeling both Dorcas and Lily's tensed muscles as the three stood shoulder to shoulder. It was 1995 and that meant one thing, Lord Voldemort had returned. The adults watched from the platform in stunned silence as the snakelike creature emerged form the cauldron, cloaked and armed with his wand, his red, slit pupil eyes filled with a horrific sort of triumph.

"What's going on?" said a voice. Turning around Marlene met the eyes of the boy that had been with Harry in the tournament, Cedric his name had been, Cedric Diggory, Amos's son.

"You're Cedric," Marlene said quietly and the boy looked at her curiously, his grey eyes narrowed slightly, his brown hair clean and not matted with blood as it had been before, his Hufflepuff tournament uniform still in one piece. "Cedric Diggory."

"Yes, I am," he said cautiously, looking at Marlene who had broken away from the group to come and speak to him a light smile on her face. "Who are you?"

"I'm Marlene McKinnon," she said with a deep breath, clearly worried of how he would take the news and as expected his grey eyes grew wide. "I knew your father."

"He told me about you," he said, looking at Marlene like she was the most impossible creature he'd ever seen. "How you met in school and he fell- but you died." he said, seeming to think better than to finish his sentence.

"Yeah, about that," she said awkwardly. By now Dorcas had noticed what was going on and in leaving the two parents watching their son, joined Marlene.

"Hello Cedric," she said, extending a hand that he gratefully shook. "My name is Dorcas Meadowes, I'm here to help you." She said and Marlene fought the urge to roll her eyes, knowing Dorcas truly enjoyed her 'Angel of Death' hobby. "I'm so sorry about what happened to you." She said earnestly and a strange, knowing looking passed over Cedric's face.

"I was with Harry, in the maze, he saved me." Cedric said, realisation dawning. "I told him to take the cup, he said we both deserved to win, we were in a graveyard and then-" he said, trailing off.

"I'm so sorry, Cedric," Dorcas repeated "But you died in that graveyard, you were killed by one of the Dark Lords followers." She said ignoring how Marlene muttered something under her breath that sounded nothing short of a string of profanities strung together with Wormtail's name, but Cedric had began to tune her out, looking instead over her shoulder at James and Lily who were watching the events unfold before them, watching as their son fought the most powerful dark wizard of all time.

"Come with me," Marlene said, extending a hand to Cedric, baffled by how much he looked like his father used to. He took it and let himself be led to the edge of the platform where James and Lily were standing. "Cedric, meet James and Lily Potter." She said.

Lily turned towards them, her eyes red and bloodshot, tears still falling down her face as she watched her son fight for his life. Her green eyes widened for a second, clearly not having noticed Marlene and Dorcas break away, before she threw her arms around Cedric's shoulders and holding him tightly.

"You helped him, you helped my little boy," she said, crying into the boys shoulder, he was taller than Lily was already, nearly as tall as James was. "I'm so sorry for what happened to you." She sobbed, holding him tightly as James smiled kindly over her shoulder. His face was baron of tears, but Marlene could see him biting them back for Lily's sake.

"I tried to help him, I didn't see it coming, I just-"

"Shhh," Lily said, pulling back and wiping Cedric's slightly teary eyes with her thumb, giving him the maternal affection she'd been harbouring for so long. "It's okay, it wasn't your fault," she said as James placed a hand on her shoulder "You did all you could, you kept my little boy alive down there, and I will never forget that." She said hugging him again."

"What's happening?" Cedric said once Lily let him go, everyone looking at him with confused eyes. "I-I feel weird" he said and they all watched as he began to fade, his feet and hands first, then his arms and legs, the his torso and finally his head.

"What the fuck just happened?" Marlene said but Dorcas had run to the platform and was standing there, pointing at the scene below.

"Look!" she said and they all watched as Cedric's body pulled its way out of the wand, standing as a grey figure in strange dome created around Harry and Voldemort.

"Hold on, Harry," He said with a distant, echoing voice, Harry and Voldemort both looking at him with wide, confused eyes.

"He was a real wizard, then?" Asked the second figure, an old man, muggle in appearance and clearly confused by what was happening. "Killed me, that one did…you fight him, boy…" he said, his voice like Cedric's, but yet another body was climbing out of the end of the wand, a woman who dropped to the ground before straightening herself up.

"Don't let go, now!" the woman called and Dorcas gasped.

"Bertha!" she said with a shocked voice, looking at the woman watching the battle with wide eyes.

"Don't let him get you, Harry – don't let go!" she cried again.

"Guys," Lily said her voice shivery and frightened. They all turned and saw Lily surveying her hands, watching them as they slowly began to fade away.

"Lily!" James said reaching for her, but she smiled.

"I'll see you in a minute, James," she said indicating to his hands that were slowly fading too. "We have to go see our little boy." She said.

"Tell him to wait for me!" James called as Lily disappeared entirely before climbing her way out of the wand.

They watched her straighten herself up, grey and shadowy, just like the others before she looked at Harry who was shaking madly as he held the connection.

"Your father's coming" she said quietly and as they turned they saw James was almost completely gone now, a strangely excited look on his face. "He wants to see you…it will be alright…hold on." She said and they all watched, Harry and the others as James's body flopped onto the ground before he straightened himself up, as grey and shadowy as Lily was herself. He walked straight to Harry and looked down at his son, his now grey eyes filled with pride when he spoke.

"When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments…but we will give you time…you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts…do you understand, Harry?"

"Yes," Harry gasped, watching as his mother and father smiled down at him, so real despite their greyness and distant voices that it pained him that they were leaving him.

"Harry…" whispered Cedric's ghostly form, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents…"

"I will" He said quickly, his face screwed up with exertion from holding the wand.

"We love you," Lily said, her voice breaking slightly as she looked down at her only son, how much he had grown. "We're so proud of you."

"Do it now," whispered James in his ear, "Be ready to run…do it now…" he said.

"NOW!" Harry shouted before he watched the shadowy figures close in on Voldemort for only a moment before he took off running, running faster than he had in entire life. He zigzagged through headstones until he grabbed a hold of Cedric's wrist, shouting 'Accio!' at the cup and disappearing into the night.

Lily and James felt themselves fading once again until they were falling into darkness so endless they didn't think they'd make it out. They felt their limbs freezing, a pain spreading throughout their bodies so fast they barely had the chance to cry out. And then they hit the white floor with a thud.

"Holy shit!" They heard a familiar voice say as they slowly opened their eyes, all traces of the pain gone from their bodies, leaving them feeling new. "James, Lily, are you okay?" Marlene asked, standing above them, her face white, her blue eyes wide and shocked.

"We're fine," Lily said, pushing herself up onto her elbows as James jumped to his feet. Marlene reached a hand towards her best friend as James ran to the platforms edge, peering over it before letting out a relieved sigh.

"He made it." he said and Lily rushed to him, jumping into his arms.

"He's okay?" she asked and James nodded, kissing her head.

"He's okay."

"He did it," Cedric said, standing beside the couple, watching the events before him. "He took me back," he said, indicating to where Harry lay clutching Cedric's body, the crowds gathering around him. They watched people try and pry Harry away and watched as Harry refused, screaming and fighting against them until finally Dumbledore reached him.

"He's back." he whispered, "He's back. Voldemort." He said, the anguish in his voice enough to cause tears to fall form Lily's eyes once again.

"Harry, you cant help him now. It's over. Let go." Dumbledore said, looking down at Harry's pained face as he clutched onto the dead body of Cedric.

"He wanted me to bring him back," he muttered, his vision misting and blurring. "He wanted me to bring him back to his parents…" Cedric's face was pale and pained as he watched his father get closer to his body, watching as people shouted and whispered the same thing, 'Diggory's dead'.

"It'll be okay," Marlene said, standing next to Cedric who stood a few inches higher than she did.

"He got me back," he said, watching all the screaming girls and other sobbing people as his father pushed his way through the crowd. Marlene, despite not knowing him, put her arms around Cedric's waist, letting him fold into her, hugging her tightly as he sobbed into her hair.

"I know he did," Marlene said, "It's over now, it's going to be okay." She said.

"I want to go," Cedric finally said, pulling away from Marlene, looking down at her with his teary grey eyes. "I'm ready to go,"

"Go where?" Lily asked him from James's side, tears falling down her face as they listened to the sounds of Mad-eye's true identity being unfolded.

"Pass on, I don't want to watch my parents grieve." He said and they all nodded, all but Dorcas.

"Stay, just for a little while, there's something I think you should see." She said with a kind smile.

"Doe, what are you talking about?" Marlene asked but Dorcas just smiled in response.

"You'll see."

* * *

"This, this is what I wanted you to see," Dorcas said, standing next to Cedric on the edge of the platform, "and then I promise I'll let you go."

"There is so much I wish to say to you all tonight," Said Dumbledore, "But I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," he said gesturing towards the Hufflepuff table and Marlene saw Cedric tense slightly. "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory." And they did and each and every one of them stood and raised a glass, and they echoed in a loud, rumbling voice, 'Cedric Diggory'

"This is what you wanted me to see?" he asked looking down at Dorcas who was a lot shorter than he was. She smiled in return.

"They did the same thing when we were in sixth year. A girl was killed on a Hogsmede visit by deatheaters." Dorcas said sadly and the others all shivered at the memory of hearing of the girl having been found at the base of the cliff. Whether she'd been killed before she fell or not was still a mystery, but their was more than one pair of footprints in the snow up the small mountain, so they known someone had been there with her. "It was a dark world we lived in, Cedric, but had she known how loved she was, well, I think it would have helped her."

And so they turned their eyes back to the scene before them as Dumbledore continued his speech.

"Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities which distinguish Hufflepuff house," Dumbledore said, "He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not."

"This isn't what I want," Cedric said, tears falling from his eyes. He could see his friends as they cried, Cho as she sat amidst her friends at the Ravenclaw table, sobbing quietly and alone as she listened intently.

"I think you need to see it," Dorcas said, watching them in the same way the others did. "I think you need to know what it is you're leaving."

"Remember Cedric." Dumbledore continued "Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right, and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

"I think," Dorcas said, looking at each of the student's faces, of Harry and his friends, of the Hufflepuff's crying over the loss of their friend, and of the teachers who wept silently for the boy who'd died too soon. "You've just sparked something here, Cedric." She said, squeezing his hand slightly. "And they'll all remember you, and they'll all think of you, because if Voldemort's back it means another war is on the way, and I wanted you to know you may have just influenced every person in that room to stand up for what is right and to fight back." she said with a kind smile and Cedric smiled back slightly. "I just wanted you to remember them, because they're not ever going to forget you."

"Thank you, Dorcas," he said, and the girl smiled back, reaching out for his hand which he gratefully took.

"Time for you to go now, though," she said and he nodded, smiling at each of the other adults around him.

"I'm glad I met you all. You're the hero's my father used to tell me stories about."

"Well now," Marlene said, indicating to the scene below them, "You get to be a hero too."

"I don't deserve to be a hero," he said modestly "It's Harry who saved me, and it's Harry who's going to save all of them." He said, thoroughly convinced by his own statement.

"He's just like his father that way," Lily said looking up at her husband who scoffed slightly.

"He's so much better than that!" he exclaimed and they all laughed slightly. "Goodbye, Cedric." James said and the others echoed it and Cedric smiled once more before disappearing for good. "Why did you show him that, Dorcas?" James asked once he was sure Cedric was gone.

"I saw you guys, the night after I died, and I watched you as you said goodbye and you drank and you cried, and it helped me. I don't know how, but when I got here I was scared and confused and I didn't know who I was or what to do, but seeing you all remembering me, I don't know, I guess he helped show me who I was. Helped me decide to wait for you all." She said with a shrug and they all nodded in acceptance.

"So is history repeating itself?" Lily asked worriedly, and James hugged her reassuringly.

"I think this is going to be a bit different to last time," Marlene said honestly, watching as her godson boarded the train back home


	5. Chapter 5

"He really grew up here?" Marlene said as she and James sat once again on the edge of the platform, their legs dangling over the edge as they watched Sirius, Harry and the Weasley's clean out Sirius's old family home.

"Afraid so," James replied, looking at the dark, dusty looking house with obvious distaste. "But he left; he got out and lived his life."

"He was in prison for twelve years," Marlene countered, watching as Sirius threw away heirloom after heirloom without much contemplative thought.

"Well he lived for about five years then," he said and they both laughed as they watched him, both wondering how well he was truly coping without them. "He really loved you," James said nudging her shoulder, "He told me."

"Well I guess I do too," Marlene said longingly.

"And you never told him, did you?" he asked and Marlene shook her head.

"Not really, he knew, I know he did, but I never truly told him." She said, suddenly longing for a cigarette and immediately putting one between her lips when it appeared. "That's probably my biggest regret. It's probably why I haven't left yet." She said lighting the cigarette with the lighter she'd had in her pocket.

"That'll kill you," James said playfully, Marlene blowing smoke into his face in response, the mischievous glint sparking in her eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder, if I'd lived, what would have happened with us, all of us I mean."

"Well," James said, leaning back on his hands and looking at the ceiling. "Me and Lily still would have died, Sirius wouldn't have gone insane from grief since he'd have had you by his side meaning he never would have gone after Peter the way he did. Remus would have had people to help him through the world, even if it was just being a flatmate and chances are Harry would have had a better life knowing he still had a family out there." James concluded and looked at Marlene who was staring at him, her mouth open slightly.

"Well that makes me feel wonderful, thank you." She said, nodding her head towards him before taking a drag on her cigarette.

"Hey, things would have been different if any one of us had lived." James reasoned. "If Lily or I hadn't died then Harry would have a parent and a family and if Dorcas hadn't died then Remus wouldn't have been alone all of these years." He said and Marlene nodded absently, not properly listening as she watched Sirius sit with the Hippogriff, his face dreamy as he stroked the feathers. "There's no point pondering on it though."

"Well there isn't exactly much more to do around here." Marlene stated, waving her hand around the desolate station as Dorcas and Lily sat and talked to one another.

"We're watching over the people we love," James said and Marlene raised an eyebrow at him.

"When did you get so wise?" she asked and he shrugged in response.

"I've had a lot of time to ponder." He said and she thought on that for only a second before she laughed.

"That's cute," she replied, poking him in the ribs so hard he fell over slightly.

"Hey, Mar, can I tell you something?" James said seriously, causing Marlene to raise an eyebrow.

"You're gay aren't you?" she said and James scoffed. "You and Sirius, I always knew there was more to your bromance. No one is that close friends." She said with a dramatically sad sigh, taking another drag on her cigarette.

"Hardly, I'm married to Lily," he said and Marlene made a face like she was going to say something but He cut her off. "I'm being serious," he said, his hazel eyes pleading with her to listen.

"Okay then, go," she said and James took a deep breath and looked below at where his son was spraying doxy's with a bottle.

"Lily was pregnant again when we, you know," he said and Marlene felt her chest tighten.

"Are you serious?" she asked, her blue eyes wide and pitiful. James just nodded.

"We'd only just found out when he came for us. We were hoping for a girl." He said with a sad laugh.

"That royally fucking sucks," Marlene said and James nodded, not looking at her but at his clasped hands. "We didn't deserve this," she said harshly, looking down at where the Weasley's, Harry and the rest of the new order were gathered for Ron and Hermione's party. "None of us did. We should be down there, celebrating with the rest of them but instead we're fucking dead." She exclaimed before standing up to go a kick things and scream and pull at her own hair, the way she always did

"Hey!" James shouted, jumping to his feet and pointing frantically to the image below them. "Guys look!" he shouted, smiling widely.

"Is that mad-eye?" Lily asked, watching the man sat down with her son.

"And is that us?" Dorcas asked excitedly as they watched Mad-eye with the tattered old photograph in his hand,

"Original Order of the Phoenix," they all heard Moody growl and by now Marlene had come to stand beside them all, watching as Moody showed the picture to Harry. "There's me," he said pointing unnecessarily to himself "And there's Dumbledore beside me, Dedalus Diggle on the other side…That's Marlene McKinnon, beautiful girl," he said and Marlene gasped, looking at herself in the picture. She was stood on the opposite side to Moody near the back, left of Sirius with Mary MacDonald next to her. She was smiling, casting Sirius a subtle glance every few seconds, her long blonde curls falling around her freckled face. "She was killed two weeks after this was taken, they got her whole family." He said and shook his head in the 'Such-a-shame' way that people often did.

"Marlene," Lily said, reaching out to her, but she brushed him off.

"It's fine," she said, pushing her hair away from her face, watching Harry as he looked at her, his green eyes curious, not seeming to notice Marlene and Sirius's clasped hands in the photograph or how Sirius who was stood a few feet away flinched at the sound of the name. "At least he'll know who I am now." She said, her voice breaking a tiny bit.

"Don't you think Sirius has told them about you?" Dorcas asked and Marlene laughed harshly.

"Not bloody likely," she said and Dorcas flinched "It's Sirius, when has he ever spoken about his feelings or about me in the entire time he's been free. No, I think this is one thing he'll be taking to his grave." she said not unkindly and the others nodded before listening once again to Moody.

"Gideon Prewett, it took five Death Eaters to kill him and his brother Fabian, they fought like heroes." He said and the others nodded their approval, remembering all too well the pranking twins, always out for a laugh but fighting more valiantly than the others would believe. "That's Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally…" he said and beside Marlene Dorcas sobbed quietly, grabbing a hold of Marlene's hand for comfort. "Sirius, when he still had short hair," he said and they all laughed, remembering how James's mother had half forced Sirius into one of the kitchen chairs before attacking his once shaggy black hair. "There you go, thought that would interest you." He said pointing at James and Lily who were smiling happily at the camera, their arms wrapped around one another.

"I'm glad he saw that," Lily said to the others, watching as Dorcas quietly wept over the image and Marlene remained stoic. "At least now he knows we truly were heroes."

"Some more than others," Marlene said looking at no body before she began to walk away, Dorcas going to follow her. "Don't follow me." She said and so the girl backed away.

"I think she's the biggest hero here," Dorcas said, watching the blonde girl as she walked away, kicking anything in her path. "Not many of us could cope with what she has." And they all nodded, returning their gaze to the party below, wishing nothing more than to be there celebrating with them.

* * *

"This is horrible!" Dorcas shrieked, watching as the battle commenced beneath them in the death chamber.

"I'm sure he's one of the bastards that killed me!" Marlene shouted pointing at a Death Eater that Sirius was currently duelling. "Or maybe it's that one with Remus," she said pointing to a different one. "They all look the fucking same!" she shrieked, stamping her foot like a child.

There were jets of green light flying over people's heads, all the younger occupants of the death chamber had ducked for cover, some of them injured, others not as the area lit up with various different colours. Dorcas screamed as a jet of green light barely missed Sirius's head, grabbing onto Marlene's hand who was currently holding her breath.

"Now I want you to get out of-" Sirius started saying but another curse flew past his other ear, hitting the wall so that Tonk's fell from halfway up the stone steps, her limp form toppling from stone seat to stone seat, an excitedly cackling Bellatrix running triumphantly to meet her.

"No, not her, I liked her," Lily said watching the blur of pink hair as it tumbled down the steps.

"Well she might be here in a minute the way this is going." Marlene said not unkindly, receiving a jab in the ribs from Dorcas which she ignored.

"Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!" Sirius yelled before dashing to meet Bellatrix. They watched as Harry launched himself towards Neville, prophecy in hand and began half carrying him towards the stone steps. They watched as Lucius attacked, demanding the prophecy and how Harry threw it to Neville who, to everyone's amazement, caught it.

Sirius was on the opposite side of the room duelling with Bellatrix, Lucius aiming his wand at Harry and Neville, only for Remus to jump between them before he could utter a word.

"Harry, round up the others and GO!" he shouted, taking over the duel with Lucius. They watched as Harry tried to drag Neville and his flailing legs up the stairs, watched as Neville's robe ripped and watched as the prophecy smashed, for only Harry and Neville to see.

"Oh no!" Dorcas squealed, pointing to the ghostly figure whose voice was lost to the sea of screams and shouts.

"It's Dumbledore!" Lily shouted excitedly, pointing to where the old wizard had just appeared at the same time Neville pointed it out to Harry. They watched Dumbledore sped down the steps, his wand aloft. Some Death Eaters ran, but Dumbledore had him back down with the others within seconds. The only ones left fighting now were Sirius and Bellatrix.

"Is he, is he laughing?" Lily said sounded abashed as she watched Sirius ducking beneath Bellatrix's curse.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" He yelled and James whooped proudly, him and Marlene sharing a quick smile before the second jet of light hit him squarely in the chest. Marlene's laughter died away before Sirius's did, his grey eyes wide with shock as Marlene's began to fill with tears. Lily fell against James's chest with a gasp and James in return fell against her, sinking into her as he watched his best friend as he began to fall, his only son dashing down the stairs after him.

"NO!" Marlene screamed, moving so as to jump off the platform before Dorcas held her back, watching Sirius's back as it fell into an arch before he sank backwards into the ragged veil hanging from the arch.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!" but his godfather didn't emerge from behind the veil.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry-" Lupin said, grabbing a hold of the teenage boy before he could reach the arch.

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"-it's too late, Harry."

"We can still reach him!" Harry shouted, kicking and struggling against Remus, but he wouldn't let him go. Marlene dropped to her knees, her face in her hands as the tears began to fall from her eyes, thick and hot and long overdue, her sobs echoing around the entire station as they heard Remus say:

"There's nothing you can do, Harry…nothing…he's gone."


	6. Chapter 6

**So due to my lack of updates, I'm giving you two today**!

 **Enjoy and please review!**

* * *

"Marlene, please get up," Lily said from beside the girl as she stayed on her knees. "He's going to be here soon."

"I don't want him to be here!" she screamed, pushing the other girl away. "I want him to live and fall in love and raise your fucking son!" she was crying again, her sobs echoing around them as she clutched at her own hair, tugging and pulling at the blonde locks.

"Marlene, please!" Lily said desperately. James and Dorcas were already waiting for Sirius to appear, knowing that James's would be the first face he'd want to see. "He can't see you like this."

"Fuck you! I don't want to see him at all!" she shouted, Lily giving her a loving, maternal look in reply.

"Marlene, please," she said, holding her arms open and the girl collapsed into them, sobbing madly into her best friends shoulder.

"He didn't deserve to die," Marlene sobbed as Lily rubbed her back.

"I know, Marlene." She said reassuringly, "But I think he's here." She said with a smile and sure enough there he was, standing with James and Dorcas - naked.

"You need to wish up clothes, Sirius!" Dorcas exclaimed.

"I'm not hugging you until you put clothes on, Pads." James said, laughing at his friends antics. After several pleas from Dorcas and wisecracks from James, Sirius stood before them in the clothing he'd been wearing before, his surprisingly intact jeans and long off-white shirt beneath a faded black jacket.

"Happy?" he asked looking at James who smiled widely at his best friend.

"Happy" he said and the two friends hugged liked they were nothing more than friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time, which in a sense, they were. "I had hoped I wouldn't be seeing you here anytime soon." James said as he pulled away, smiling up at his brother for the first time in over fifteen years.

"Yet here I am!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing his arms wide, still as dramatic as he was when he was a wayward teenage boy.

"Here you are," James said with a smile before looking at Sirius up and down for a second, a cheeky grin on his face. "It's still a shame you got old." He said and Sirius let out a bark of laughter before throwing an arm over James' shoulder, ruffling his already scruffy hair.

"Wait until you see Moony!"

"I'm sorry, Marlene, but I've got to go and see him." Lily said with an apologetic look, but Marlene waved her off, deciding she wanted to be alone right now as she frantically brushed the tears from her face. "Sirius!" she shouted, throwing herself at the man before her as her husband laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Nice to see you too, Lily-pad," Sirius said hugging her back.

"Thank you, for looking after him, thank you so much." She said, tears pooling in her emerald eyes.

"It was nothing." Sirius said dramatically.

"No really, mate, thank you." James said clapping his friend on the back.

"So then, who else is awaiting my greeting," Sirius said with a wide grin, looking between Lily, James and Dorcas, all of which were looking away slightly.

"Sirius," Marlene said, moving out from behind a pillar, her fists clenched at her sides as she looked at him, from his shaggy, slightly greying hair to his slight beard and his tattered clothes.

"Marlene!" he shouted back and began moving towards her. She couldn't hold it back anymore, she ran at him like she'd never run before, her eyes filled with tears, her hair flying behind her. They collided with one another, Marlene jumping and Sirius catching her, her legs wrapping around his waist, the way they always did, his hands supporting her back. "I've missed you so much," he said looking over her face, wiping away the tears as they fell down her cheeks.

"You really did get old," she said, running her fingers through his still shaggy hair, laughing when she caught sight of a grey one. He laughed slightly, still too overwhelmed from seeing her to say anything sarcastic or witty. "I don't mind." She said, looking into his stormy grey eyes, so ablaze with emotions, more than Marlene ever thought Sirius could feel. "I need to tell you something," she said but he stopped her, putting his forehead against hers as she shut her eyes.

"I know," he said and she pulled away.

"You do?" she said, surprised. "But-"

"You're not as mysterious as you think you are," he said with a grin and she slapped his shoulder slightly.

"Fuck you, Black," she said and he smiled wider, a real smile, like the one she saw when Harry agreed to live with him.

"That's the McKinnon I know," he said before he pressed his lips against hers. She froze for a moment, it having been so long since she'd had any physical contact of this sort, but even now, sixteen years later, the familiarity won over and she found herself kissing back, running her fingers through his hair as he held her tighter and closer to him.

"Alright now, this isn't a reunion anymore, it's something else!" James shouted and the two pulled away, smiling at each other.

"I've missed you, McKinnon." Sirius said, placing Marlene back on the floor, but keeping his arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her to him. It had been far too long since he'd held her like this, he thought he never would again.

* * *

"Doe?" Lily asked, watching as the girl sat on the edge of the platform, her bare legs dangling over the edge. Everyone else was sat together sharing stories about anything they could think of, revelling in the fact they were together again. Sirius had barely left Marlene's side since he'd turned up, but she didn't seem to be complaining about it. "What are you doing over here?" she asked sitting down beside the tanned girl, close enough that their shoulders were touching.

"He looks so happy." Dorcas said sadly, her dark eyes trained down past the platform at where the world continued to move around and around.

"Who?" Lily asked before looking down herself. Dorcas didn't answer, she knew she wouldn't have to. "Oh." Lily said awkwardly, watching the tired man standing in the kitchen of his home hidden deep within the lower city of London. He was cooking something that looked like it had come from a can, but he seemed used to the predicament. From the other side of the room a woman entered. She was short and curvy wearing tattered jeans and a Weird-sisters shirt, her heart shaped face surrounded by jagged locks of bubble-gum pink hair.

She crossed the room, stubbing her toe on the table and tripping on a shoelace before finally reaching Remus, wrapping her small arms around his waist, Remus smiling at the contact.

"He really loves her." Dorcas said sadly, a forced smile on her face. "Why wouldn't he though," she said before Lily could interrupt. "She's young and individual and eccentrically beautiful and…alive." She said with a sigh, letting tears fall silently down her cheeks, splashing on her knees.

"Doe," Lily said, putting her arms around the girl who fell into her touch. "I'm so sorry, Doe."

"I don't know what I expected," Dorcas said, sniffling as she pulled away from her friend. "He's such a great guy, it's no wonder he found someone else. And it has been over seventeen years. What else was he going to do?"

"This doesn't mean he never loved you, Doe." Lily said comfortingly, watching as the couple below kissed, Nymphadora having to go up on tip-toes. "I know that he did, he was mad about you."

"That was young love, Lily, it didn't mean anything." Dorcas replied sadly.

"What about me and James?" she asked incredulously, clearly trying to reassure the girl beside her. "And Marlene and Sirius, we're all still together and in love, does that not mean anything?"

"That's different." Dorcas said with a sigh. "You and James were soul mates, everyone could see that, you're practically made for each other, you had a child and you died together. And Sirius and Marlene, they didn't truly realise what they had for each other until one of them was gone." She said. "Remus and I never had that."

"I'm sorry, Doe, I know that with Sirius still loving Marlene that you thought Remus might-"

"Please don't, I know what you're going to say. I'm dead Lily, he's not. Sirius needed Marlene to keep him sane because he had no one else, Remus does. I need to accept that now."

"You never know, some nice young man might come walking through here any day now and sweep you off your feet." Lily said budging her shoulder against Dorcas's.

"Somehow I don't see me pouncing on the newest dead man helping me." She said woefully and Lily sighed.

"Maybe you two weren't supposed to be together; maybe if you'd survived you'd have found other people naturally." Lily reasoned, but she could see her words were far from helping.

"If I'd survived that attack, I'd never have left that mans side. Not for a single second." She said, tears falling down her cheeks. "I'd have followed him to the ends of the earth." And Despite wanting to argue, to whisper comforting words to her friend, Lily knew in her heart that Dorcas was right.

* * *

"I didn't think he had it in him!" Sirius said with a proud bark of laughter, watching Remus as he held his child for the first time, the tiny bundle of blankets in his arms with the pale green eyes of his father and his hair turning an alarming shade of turquoise.

"He looks happy." Dorcas said, watching with sad eyes at the smile that illuminated Remus's scarred features.

"He was always so good with Harry," Lily mused aloud, leaning into James' shoulder as they stood "He always was the paternal type."

"He had a lot of practice running around after you prats." Marlene said, nudging Sirius in the ribs, hearing as he and James' highfived over her head. She was so used to this bromance now that she just rolled her eyes.

"Still doubt Harry will be as good a godfather as me." Sirius said proudly, puffing his chest out.

"Well Teddy is more likely to know he has a godfather since he won't be locked up for the majority of his life." Marlene said snidely, smirking up at Sirius who scoffed feeling slightly affronted.

"You're lucky I love you, McKinnon." Sirius said kissing her forehead. Despite having been reunited for almost two years now, Marlene was still far from used to hearing Sirius say those words to her.

"Or what?" She replied, spinning in his arms so that she was facing him, looking up at him with her big blue eyes. "Do you really think you can take me, Black?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow, ignoring the eye rolls and gagging noises of their other friends.

"You know I could." Sirius replied, his voice low and husky, the way that made Marlene's skin crawl in a way she knew now that she loved.

"I meant without breaking a hip." She said cheekily and Sirius smirked his boyish grin, making him look like the teenage boy she'd fallen in love with all those years ago.

"You brought this on yourself, McKinnon," he said. Marlene raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant but before she could even ask, she felt herself being hoisted from off her feet and thrown over Sirius' shoulder as he began running along the platform. "Do you take it back?" he called at her, revelling in the shrieking laughter that was erupting from the girl over his shoulder.

"Never!" she called back amongst her laughter as Sirius continued to cart her around like she weighed nothing.

"This is never going to end, is it?" James groaned, running a hand tiredly over his face.

"Not a chance." Lily and Dorcas both chorused, both of them so glad that Marlene had found her happiness at last.

* * *

 **It's not over yet, we still have the final battle and some new arrivals.**


	7. Chapter 7

**So this schapter had been reposted as I realised I never actually included Snape's Death and Lily's reaction to it.**

 **If you ship Snily, then your're not going to like this.**

* * *

"So this is definitely different to last time." Marlene said into the silence that ensued the group. Everyone was frozen, staring with wide, terrified eyes at the scene below. The castle was destroyed, walls crumbling amongst the shouts and lights of the battle that waged within its walls.

"Time and a place, Marls," James said shakily, his arms wrapped around Lily. They'd been frantically searching the ruins of what they once called home for their son the second he stepped foot in the room of requirement.

"Can you see him?" Lily called, green eye wide, her hand covering her mouth.

"He'll be fine, Lils," Sirius said, standing behind Marlene. He wasn't touching her, he was just there, like a ghost, the way she had been for him all those years. "Harry's a fighter."

"I don't want him to be fighter!" Lily half screeched, pulling out of James's arms and retracting her free hand from where Dorcas was squeezing it painfully tight. "He' supposed be to be young and happy and have awkward crushes and pass all his classes!" Sirius and James had both moved back a step the moment 'Hysteric Lily' had shown herself. They'd learnt long ago that that Hysteric Lily was not to be messed with. A Particular event of Fall 1977 came to mind when Lily had found out James had slept with Hestia just a day after kissing her. It was a dark day for all the marauders.

Marlene, however, had learnt how to deal with Lily for years. Reaching out, she grabbed a hold of the red heads shoulder, affectively drawing the daggered stare away from the two skittish boys and onto her. Lily Evans had always been born to be a mother – everyone knew it. She was the one who sat by Mary's bedside after her attack, she's calmed even the wildest side of Marlene and comforted and accepted Remus when she found out the truth of who he was. Now was no different. Her green eyes were wide and rimmed red, tears still flowing freely, her chest was rising and falling deeply, heaving her shoulders up and down. She was heartbroken that she couldn't protect her only son.

Dragging her over, Marlene wrapped her arms around the frantic girl's shoulders, feeling as she half-collapsed instantly, the weight of her pain lifting slightly at the comfort. James may be Lily's soul mate, but Marlene was her best friend, and there were times where a lover just wouldn't do.

"Lily, calm down," Marlene said strongly, feeling her own eyes stinging as she held the redhead in her arms. She could still see the battle over Lily's shoulder - the coloured flashes of hexes and curses blazing her eyelids. This was definitely different to last time. These people weren't fighters, they were children, and they were showing no mercy. Marlene wasn't a paragon of virtue, she never claimed to be, but even she knew this wasn't right.

"He's just a boy," Lily sobbed against Marlene's shoulder and Marlene had to bite her lip from sobbing alongside her. Marlene had never had the chance to be a mother, but she knew it would destroy her to not be able to save her own child.

"I can see him!" Dorcas shouted, breaking the two girls apart as they ran back to the edge, their eyes following where Dorcas was pointing,

"He's okay!" Lily beamed, jumping back into James' arms. He was just as ecstatic as she was, wrapping his arms around her and spinning her like they were teenagers again. "He's with Ron and Hermione. He's going to be okay!"

That was when the air exploded. The group watched in stunned silence, Marlene gripping a hold of Sirius' hand as they watched the wall of the castle as it blew, rubble flying in every direction, dust clouds booming into the air like a nuclear explosion. They couldn't see him. They couldn't see anyone.

"Holy shit," Marlene breathed, watching as the battle continued to rage, the dust barely even settling. No one even bothered to scold her for her language, they were all tensed, staring blankly at the disaster before them.

"No – no – no!" someone was shouting and everyone held their breaths. Lily held onto James like a lifeline, like he was the only thing stopping her jumping from the platform to save her son. Marlene gripped Sirius' hand with a white-knuckled grip. If it hurt, he didn't say. He never did.

"D'you think-" Dorcas began, taking a deep breath as she watched the scene before her. She was saved finishing by the sound of a voice behind them.

"Where the hell am I?" said the voice and everyone span on their heels to see the new face. Marlene cocked her eyebrow at the new addition. James and Lily were too busy clutching one another to truly take in the situation. Sirius looked visibly pained.

"Hello, Fred," he said as the red headed man finished buttoning his shirt, his blue eyes scouring the arched ceiling of King cross station like he's never seen before.

"I'm dead aren't I?" Fred said, his voice strong but void of its usual joking nature.

"'Fraid so, mate," James said with a sympathetic smile. Fred didn't speak, just took in the faces of everyone around him and he stood up. Naturally his eyes lingered on Marlene longer than necessary – they often did with guys – but the ones who really got his attention were the couple stood so tightly in one another's embrace that it looked like one of them was going to snap in half. Probably James.

"You're Harry's parents." Was all Fred said before Lily had her arms wrapped around the young man's neck, her sobs echoing around the station as the others watched with helpless and pained expressions.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you!" Lily sobbed as Fred patted her back awkwardly, looking to James and Sirius for help. James came to the rescue, prying his sobbing wife from the ginger man's arms.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." James said, giving Fred and understanding look as he looked at lily with a frankly scared expression, like at any moment she'd throw herself back at him and cry until she couldn't even breath. "Big fan of your work – that thing with the Slytherin and the vanishing cabinet genius!"

"Time and a place." Sirius said with a slight chuckle, placing his hand on James shoulder.

"I'm Dorcas," Dorcas said introducing herself as the others moved back to the platform to watch as the battle continued to rage on. "There's someone else here." She said, turning to look around the platform. She was saved the time by a voice cracking as it whispered a single word.

"Lily." The red-head froze, her pale face freezing in shock before she turned, looking at the man not ten feet away in his long black robes with his greasy hair and dark eyes.

"You son-of-a –" James began, moving to lunge at the man standing before them, but Lily stopped him, holding out an arm while Marlene fought to hold Sirius back, resisting the urge to go for the sleazy man herself.

"No," Lily said calmly, a thinly veiled anger in her voice like none the other Marauders had ever heard. "You leave him to me." She said, moving her arm away, but James stayed in place, a knowing look passing between them before the young woman turned, walking towards her once best friend.

"Lily, I –" Snape began, looking at the woman he loved as she walked towards him, a million thoughts filling his mind, a million wishes nearly tumbling from his lips. He was cut off, however, by the sharp crack that echoed around the station from where Lily's palm had collided with his pale cheek.

No one spoke, Marlene fought the urge to cheer her on but bit her tongue. She knew Lily had some things to say.

"He was my son." Lily said, her voice cold and insulted as she looked up into the face of a man she could have perhaps, one day, have grown to love.

"Lily –"

"No!" Lily shouted and Snape had the decency to wince at the sharpness in her voice. "He was my son, and you made it your goal to make his life at that school a living hell. I don't care if you were protecting him, he had plenty of people to do that. What you did was spiteful and petty. I was ready to forgive you, to accept you back into my life as my friend and you manage to show me why that would have been a great mistake."

"You don't understand," Snape pleaded, ignoring the scoffs of Lily's friends and the angry glances that were being cast his way. All he could see was her, his Lily, before, breathing heavily as she scolded him for a lifetime of pain.

"You made my son miserable. If you cared at all for me then you would have cared for him." She said sharply and Snape recoiled as if slapped.

"I do care for you, I lo –"

"Don't say it!" Lily cut him off, pointing at him with a slim finger. "I don't want to hear you say those words. You've tainted them. You may have been on the side of good and fought for the light, but that does not make you honourable. You are a coward, Severus. You've been lurking in the shadows, bullying children, outing Remus." She said harshly, the others nodding in ascent. "You don't know love. Love it about compassion, something you clearly lack."

They stood in silence after that, no one wanting to say a word. Lily spent hours ranting about Snape and how she would give him a piece of her mind the second he arrived here, the same way Marlene had punched Wormtail the second he'd sat up. He's not even been dressed yet, just sat cowering naked and afraid like the rat he was. As much as she wanted to clock Snape in the chin right now she held herself back. This was Lily's battle, Lily's unfinished business. She was like a mother bear protecting her child with every ounce of fire in her veins.

"Go," Lily said into the silence, her voice was so harsh, so unforgiving and so not like her that it made Dorcas shiver slightly, Fred widening his eyes at her fury. "I want you gone. Pass over. May the other side have mercy on your wretched soul."

Snape didn't argue – not that it would have done any good. Lily would have dragged him onto that train by his ear if that was all it took to not see him again. He gave Lily one last longing glance before boarding his train, disappearing into the world beyond this one, hopefully never to be a part of Lily's life (or afterlife) again.

"Well, that went well." James said, enveloping his wife in a tight hug as she collapsed against him slightly. She's waited too long to say those words, far too long. The weight was lifted and once again she could go back to worrying with the others about her child.

"Can you see him?" Lily asked, changing the subject, craning her neck as though she could take in the entirety of the Hogwarts grounds and spot her son amongst the throng of people fighting for their lives. But no one was fighting anymore.

"He's there," Marlene said, pointing towards the entrance hall that Harry, Hermione and Ron had just entered. They all watched, bemused as bodies were moved to and fro, people were crying like they'd never be happy again and amongst it all was a family, all of them huddled around a single fallen soldier, all of them with red hair. "Don't let him see this." Marlene continued, anger boiling in her veins.

Fred was just a boy, the same age as herself – it was bad enough that she died young and alone in an age where everyone was falling in love at seventeen. Now here was this boy, dead like herself and just as alone. She'd been the last of her family to die – she didn't have to see her mother and father crying at her bloody corpse's side – didn't have to watch as her sister clung onto the closest person they could because her legs could no longer hold her – she didn't have to watch as her brothers, younger and older, had to bite their lips just to keep from screaming out her name like it was the last time they'd ever get to say it again.

"Too late." Fred said as he stood beside Marlene, biting his lip as he watched his twin gripping his body like a lifeline. "What's he going to do without me," Fred said, tears falling from his eyes as he watched the scene below him. "We were team. He'll probably never laugh again."

"He'll mourn," Marlene said, reaching out and griping Fred's hand, expecting him to ignore it, to not respond at all. She was wrong. She felt as Fred's hand gripped around hers, holding onto her tighter than she expected. "He'll be heartbroken for a while – probably for years, and no maybe he won't laugh again. But he'll smile."

"You can't know that." He said, watching as the rest of the room moved around them, covering bodies, tending to the wounded, while his family wrapped each other in their arms and clung on for dear life.

"Because I'm the same age as you and I'm dead." Marlene said bluntly, something Fred clearly wasn't used to since his eyes widened. "I watched as people mourned for me and I watched as they moved on and made lives for themselves. Except that sorry excuse for a man." She said with a half-hearted laugh, pointing at Sirius over her shoulder. Fred didn't laugh along.

"You see that girl there," Fred said, dropping Marlene's hand and pointing towards the only brunette amongst the redheads, Harry having already left, Lily and James following his every step.

"The bushy haired one? You can't miss her." Marlene said and pretended she didn't notice the dirty look Dorcas shot her from where she stood at the other end of the platform with Sirius.

"I think she was the love of my life." He said, blinking away his tears.

"Wasn't she just tongue dancing with your brother?" Marlene asked, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrow at the red head.

"Which is why I never told her," Fred finished, strangely he even smiled afterwards. "Hermione and Ron were just meant to be."

"Pfft," Marlene scoffed harshly, causing Lily to glare over from the scene she as watching between her and Snape as children in the park. Marlene didn't even look apologetic. "No one is 'meant to be', relationships aren't written in the stars, if they happen, they happen. They don't happen by chance, you need to man up and move in before someone else does."

"You're a little bit bitter, aren't you?" Fred asked, eyeing Marlene appreciatively and she shrugged.

"She's also like a hundred years too old for you," Sirius said as he sidled in beside the two of them, wrapping his arm around Marlene's waist the way he used to when another Hogwarts student would look at her the wrong way.

"First off, I've only been dead for nineteen years-"

"And I can see how pained you are by your short life-"

"And second of all, I'm not bitter, I'm a realist." She said, slapping Sirius' arm, missing how Fred eyed to two knowingly. "People live and people die, it's life. I'm pretty sure I lived more in my twenty years than Sirius did in all – fifty, is it now?" she said, smirking over her shoulder at him.

"Funny, McKinnon."

"She has a point."

Everybody froze. No one had even noticed the new arrivals, they'd been too busy watching Harry through the pensive and helping Fred and fighting the urge to scream at the horror of the world that they hadn't even noticed.

"No," Sirius breathed, his eyes wide and staring.

"This isn't happening." Marlene breathed, looking up at Sirius, watching the anger and the horror flashing across his still pale face. No one else would have noticed, but Marlene had worn her mask flawlessly for the best part of her life, if anyone could read Sirius like a book, it was her.

"Moony," James said as he collided with his old friend, gripping onto the weathered man tight enough to bruise.

"It's been too long, James," Remus said with a smile. He only had a second of respite from James' hug before a familiar curtain of red hair came barrelling towards him, near enough knocking him off of his feet as the two collided, lily's legs wrapping around Remus and squeezing like she needed proof he was real. "Merlin, Lily, I'm not as young as I once was." He said as he set her back down, trying to cover the strain in his voice from his protesting body.

"I knew you couldn't stay away for long." Sirius said as he broke away from Marlene, joining his two best friends in a long overdue reunion.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," James said, looking between the two greatest friends he'd had in his short life with a sad, but ultimately happy smile on his face. "But Sirius was right. You _did_ get old!"

"Shame the same can't be said for all of us." Marlene said, joining the group gathered around Remus, Fred by her side.

"Marlene," Remus said with a polite nod. The two had never been that close. Marlene had always thought Remus was playing around with the girls – Dorcas and Mary especially by never telling them his secret - and Remus had always disapproved of Marlene's lifestyle of trailing Sirius along by a lead. But none of that mattered anymore, they'd practically grown up together, he was as much of a part of Marlene's family just like everyone else at this station.

"I've missed you, Wolf-boy," she said with a soft smile, one Remus returned before accepting one of Marlene's rare but comforting hugs. They were always a lot tighter than expected, but Remus was relieved the ache had left his body after so many years.

"Fred?"

"Tonks!" Fred shouted, half running to embrace the bubblegum haired girl. "Holy shit, you shouldn't be here!"

"Same for you, Fred," Remus said sadly, moving to stand beside his wife. "You're so young."

"But you've just had a son." Fred added and Tonk's face fell painfully as she stared up at Remus.

"Harry will take care of him, Moony," Sirius said, his hand landing on Remus' shoulder.

"That he will, Padfoot." The two friends sharing a knowing glance. They'd both had a chance to see the man Harry had become, they knew he'd never leave his godson to grow up alone.

"Hold on!" Fred said, looking between Remus and Sirius like he was seeing them for the first time, his eyes wide. "Moony-" he said pointing to Remus, "Padfoot-" pointing at Sirius who stood with the air of a proud teenager. "Prongs?"

"In the flesh!" James said proudly, beaming like he was just seen as a celebrity. "Sort of."

"You're the Marauders, the ones who made the map!" Fred exclaimed, seeming half bemused by the revelation. "Harry knew, didn't he?"

"From the beginning," Remus said, remembering the time in his office when Harry had first brought him the map and the memories that had come flooding back.

"That little rat." Fred breathed, still amazed by the people who stood before, the boys whos legacy he had carried with his twin for years.

"Speaking of rats!" James said loudly as James and Sirius shared an angry glance. "We're in need of a fourth member."

"And you'd be perfect." Remus added with a bright smile, Tonk's was busy standing beside Lily and Dorcas, comforting her in the ways her son had grown. She knew Remus needed this reunion, he'd been lonely for so long.

"But, Wormtail-" Fred began with a confused glance between the faces of men, their ages so ranged, and yet they all looked like the teenagers they used to be.

"Is where he belongs, no doubt," Remus said, looking between James and Sirius.

"Not before Marlene had a go at him," Sirius said proudly, scuffing her blonde curls until she slapped his hand away. Sirius just beamed.

"You should have seen what she did you your brother!" James said with a booming laugh, wrapping his arm around Marlene's shoulder while Sirius baked a laugh. Marlene barely reacted. "Half chased him over to the other side, fist shaking and all!"

"That's my girl." Sirius said with a wink, kissing Marlene's head. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by the voice from the end of the platform.

"James!" Lily's desperate cry knocked any smile from James face as he rushed towards his wife. What's happening?" she asked, looking down at herself. It was the same sensation that followed the Triwizard tournament. Lily was slowly fading, her body turning grey before drifting out of existence.

"What the-" Sirius voice said, James turned and saw the same thing was happening to both Remus and Sirius, Marlene looking at them like they were sprouting wings, stepping away from them as they disappeared. James didn't need to look down to know he was slowly disappearing too, he reached out a hand toward Lily, only to see his fingers slowly drifting away like smoke.

"I'll see you there!" he called to Lily and she nodded, but the fear on her face told him she wasn't so sure. Shutting his eyes, James let the lightness wash over him, plunging him into darkness, following his wife to wherever they might be going.


	8. Chapter 8

**I said I was getting better with my updates ;)**

 **Review!**

* * *

The Forbidden Forrest was unmistakable, even now so many years later.

They stood in the circle, all four of them standing around the boy they'd been watching for so many years. His eyes were closed, a snitch held in his grip, but he was unmistakably Harry.

"You've been so brave," Lily said, taking in every aspect of Harry's face hungrily like she would never be able to see it enough. He was the same height as James was, his hair the same scruffy mess. It pained her as a mother to see her son so beaten down. His clothing was ripped and tattered, his skin coated in grime and dried blood – only some of which was his own. It was the eyes that hurt the most to see. They were so much like her own, but they weren't beaten, they were alive. Harry was determined to do what had to be done, to fight. He was going to join them soon and nothing could have broken his mother's heart more.

"You are nearly there," James said, but Lily didn't look at him, even when Harry did. Just being able to see the back of Harry's head was enough for her. "Very close. We are… so proud of you." He finished and Lily bit back her sob. Of course she was proud of her son – The Chosen One – but that would never change the fact that he was just a boy. Just a young boy who needed his parents more than he ever had before. Lily didn't want Harry to live a short life filed with horror, tragedy and watching his back. She wanted him to live a long happy life, to fall in love with the Weasley girl and have babies. Not to die in the forest at the hands of a power crazed monster.

"Does it hurt?" Harry asked and Lily bit her lip hard enough that it would bleed if she could. Her body felt so strange – not ghost but not flesh, she felt like she had one foot with the living and one still on the platform, that Marlene and Dorcas were only and arms reach away.

"Dying? Not at all," Sirius said with a proud smile. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"And he'll want it to be quick. He wants it over." Remus added in, looking at Harry with the same paternal longing that each of the three men did. They all wanted to raise Harry to be the best he could be, and in the short time Remus had been with him he'd like to say he'd succeeded. Harry was a hero and he was about to become a martyr, just like his mother and father. That was one thing Remus would never have wished upon this poor boy, but something he knew he could never have stopped. For a boy that had lost so much, Harry really was willing to give it all up for what was right.

"I didn't want you to die," Harry said and James fought to urge to confess he'd do it all over again just to see Harry become the man he has today. But he didn't, something stopped him. "Any of you. I'm sorry. Right after you'd had your son … Remus, I'm sorry - "

"I am sorry too," Remus replied "Sorry I will never know him… but he will know why I died and I hope he wil understand. I was trying to make a world where he could live a happier life." Lily reached out her hand, grateful when she felt James take it, both of them watching their son, proud parents until the last second. They wouldn't tell him to go, they didn't want him too. He was too young to join them just yet. But this wasn't their choice. It was Harry's and they knew he'd made up his mind.

"You'll stay with me?" he asked, drinking in each of the faces around him. If he could stand there forever, with nothing but his family around him, he could die in this clearing quite happily.

"Until the very end." James said.

"They won't be able to see you?" asked Harry.

"We are a part of you," Sirius said "Invisible to anyone else."

Lily sucked in a tiny breath when she saw Harry's eyes, so like her own, fall to her.

"Stay close to me," He said quietly, and Lily didn't need telling twice. She gave him a tiny nod and a soft smile and after taking a deep breath, he began the final stretch of the journey he'd been set on, the one that would cost him his poor, young life. They walked beside him, James and Lily to his right, Sirius and Remus to his left, each of them not making a sound as their feet touched the ground. They heard the voices of Death Eaters in the forest and Lily tightened her grip on James, feeling his hand doing the same. They were Harry's courage – if they faltered then all of this would have been for nothing.

"I was, it seems … mistaken," Voldemort said and James fought the urge to lunge forward – not that it would do any good. Voldemort could neither see or hear James so the likelihood he'd feel any sort of contact was slim.

"You weren't," Harry said loudly, his voice unwavering as he stuffed the cloak into his pocket. With one final ounce of strength and a glance at the people he loved, he dropped the resurrection stone and stepped into the light of the fire.

* * *

"This isn't good." Fred muttered, watching Harry as he stood before Lord Voldemort, the same brave boy he'd fought beside not hours ago. They all watched in stunned silence as Hagrid boomed at the young boy, begging him to run. Hey hadn't seen Lily, James, Remus or Sirius, but they knew where they'd gone. Harry wasn't talking to no one in the forest.

"This can't be happening," Tonk's said, her voice a whisper as she, along with everyone else, watched the horror below unfold.

"Let me through!" they heard Lily cry – clearly they were back – before she bounded through the group, teetering on the edge of the platform, James on her heels. Remus moved beside Tonk's, his eyes as tired as ever as he gave her a failed smile. She wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest and squeezing her eyes shut, tight.

"Harry Potter," Voldemort said softly and Dorcas visibly shivered. "The boy who lived." No one moved – the Deatheaters were waiting with malicious faces, they'd been waiting for this moment for years. Hagrid struggled against his bonds and everyone on the platform held their breath and the hands closest to them. Marlene was sure she was hurting Sirius but he didn't say a word, he was gripping her hand just as tightly.

Voldemort raised his wand, his head tilted to the side like a curious child, seeming to wonder what would happen if he proceeded. Marlene audibly growled.

"He's been so brave." Lily whimpered as they saw Voldemort's lips move and the air flash green before Harrys body fell to the ground and all hope was gone.

* * *

"He's going to be here soon," Dorcas said weakly, looking down at the scene below where Harry's boy lay, still and lifeless. They all stared, their ears filed with the horrific sound of Lily's sobs. Her legs had buckled beneath her, leaving her knelt on the floor, her hands over her mouth to cover the sobs. James had followed with her, his arms around her seemingly weak body, gripping his wife tight as he cried into her hair. Remus and Tonk's were wrapped in one another's arms and Dorcas couldn't even find the strength to be jealous as she stood gripping Fred's hand as he cried silently. Marlene hadn't even protested when she felt Sirius tug her towards him roughly, wrapping her in his arms as he too cried.

This boy had done so much, touched so many lives and now it was over, in that single second. They barely noticed how Voldemort too was on the ground, Bellatrix fussing over him like a lover.

"Where is he?" Marlene asked, her eyes scanning the station around her.

"He should be here." Dorcas added and the two girls shared a single glance. Lily must have heard because she was back on her feet, staring over the platform for any sign of life coming from the boy below. They all watched as a woman – Narcissa Malfoy – moved towards Harry's body, crouching down beside him and slipping her hand beneath his shirt to feel his heart. She was saying something, Lily knew it, but she couldn't hear her words, instead she watched as Narcissa withdrew her hand, sitting up and calling towards her fellow Deatheaters.

"He is dead!" Her voice rang out through the forest. There was a moment of silence until the first yell of triumph bounded the air, followed by others.

"The lying cow," Marlene said, pulling away from Sirius' iron grip, looking over the platform to where the Deatheaters celebrated, sparks of red and silver showering around them. "He's alive. Lily, he's alive!" Marlene said as she watched the smile break her tearstained face.

"My son's alive." She breathed with a laugh, turning to James who looked just as bemused as everyone else felt. "Our sons alive!" she exclaimed, jumping into James' arms, feeling as he spun her in the air, laughing into her hair with the goofiest smile on his face.

"I told you he was a fighter!" Sirius boomed, punching the air like he'd just won a competition.

"So I he just going to play dead?" Marlene said, watching as Voldemort raised Harry's body up in the air a few times, letting him fall back to the ground with a resounding thud. That must have hurt. "How is he going to keep that up?"

"You'd be surprised," Fred beamed, as Sirius clapped him excitedly on the shoulder. They watched as the Deatheaters made their way towards the castle, Voldemort leading the party with Hagrid carrying Harry not two feet behind him.

"SILENCE!" Voldemort cried following the distraught voices of Hermione, Ron, Ginny. McGonagall and the following abusive outburst from the rest of the defence. "It is over! Set him down, Hargrid, at my feet, where he belongs!" and they watched on as Hagrid obeyed. "You see? Harry Potter is dead! Do you understand now, deluded ones? He was nothing, ever, but a boy who relied on others to sacrifice themselves for him."

"If he doesn't kill that bastard, I will." Marlene growled slightly, her blue eyes narrowing as she watched

"He beat you!" Ron yelled and shouting of Hogwarts defenders roared up again.

"You tell him, Ron!" Fred exclaimed proudly, watching as his family stood at the front of the crowd, yelling the loudest until their faces turned red. They were only silenced by the bang, more powerful than their voices quieted the entire crowd.

"He was killed trying to sneak out of the castle grounds," Voldemort said, relishing the lie he told "Killed while trying to save himself-" but he was cut off by a shout, one he quickly subdued with a flash of light a flourish of his wand. "And who is this?" he asked, tossing aside the challengers wand with a harsh laugh. "Who has volunteered to demonstrate what happens to those who continue to fight when the battle is lost?" he finished and Bellatrix gave a delighted laugh.

"Holy shit," Marlene breathed. "Is that Frank and Alice's kid?"

"It is Neville Longbottom, My Lord! The boy who has been giving the Carrow's so much trouble! The son of the Auror, you remember?" Bellatrix shrieked with glee.

"They were better people than you ever were!" Marlene shouted, wishing that the scraggy, gaunt looking woman below could hear her as she wrestled with Sirius's arms around her.

"Ah, yes, I remember," Voldemort said as he looked down at Neville with faux curiosity. "But you are a pure-blood, aren't you, my brave boy?" he asked as Neville stood before him, his empty hands clenched into fists.

"So what if I am?" Neville said a little too loudly, but Fred whooped his encouragement for the slightly frail looking boy anyway.

"You show spirit, and bravery, and you come from noble stock. You will make a very valuable Deatheater. We need your kind, Neville Longbottom."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over!" Never said and Sirius even applauded him. "Dumledore's Army!" he shouted, answered by the cheers of his fellow class-men, his teachers and his friends. They were a forced to be reckoned with, outnumbered or not and they weren't beaten. Not yet.


	9. Chapter 9

**So here we are everyone, the final chapter.**

 **Thank you to any and all who have followed this story and I really hope you've enjoyed the ride as much as I have!**

 **If you've enjoyed this little sequel then you may also like my other Marauder's fic (How our story starts) which is still in progress.**

* * *

The battle below was like nothing any of those on the platform had ever seen, even those who had been there only hours before. Thestrals and Buckbeak swarmed through the skies, attacking the giants that had flanked Voldemort, something Sirius took great pride in to see his old friends fighting for the cause.

The great hall was filled with the shouts and cries of curses, students fighting alongside teachers, parents and even a few of Hogsmede's shop owners. Centaurs burst through the doors with a great clatter of hooves, house-elves wielding weapons and screeching battle cries swooping beneath their legs, attacking Deatheaters from below, and at their head – to Sirius' great surprise – was Kreacher, the horribly unpleasant house-elf he'd known all his life.

They'd lost sight of Harry as soon as he'd slipped beneath his cloak and was no doubt meandering his way through the crowd towards the true enemy – Voldemort.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!" bellowed a voice across the hall. Every one looked at Fred, their eyes wide as whooped at his mother, advancing on Bellatrix like a rhino ready to charge. "OUT OF MY WAY!" she shouted to the thee girls, who had been duelling Bellatrix previously before swiping her hand, taking Bellatrix on herself. This was not a battle for the faint hearted. Curse after curse was fired and before long hundreds of eyes had turned to watch the battle unfold between both Bellatrix and Molly, and Voldemort and his attackers. "No! Get back! Get back! She's mine!" Molly cried at the students who moved to help her in her onslaught. Her brown eyes were narrowed and her movements fast as she struck out at Bellatrix with every fibre of her being.

"Fred, you're Mum's a badass." Marlene said with a laugh, watching and applauding as the woman fought hard against Voldemort's best lieutenant.

"You bet she is!" Fred said, wrapping his arm around Marlene's shoulders, hugging her tightly as he cheered his mother on in the battle against evil.

"What will happen to your children when I've killed you?" Bellatrix taunted, her snarl audible as she fought against the clearly equal witch, dancing around the curses like they were nothing. "When mummy's gone the same way as Freddie?"

Fred sucked in a breath, tensing with his arms around Marlene, the blonde girl not quite sure how to react.

"That was low blow," James said, shaking his head as they watched the redness rise in Molly's face, an anger like no other burning through her veins. The anger of a protective mother who had already lost one child.

"You – Will – never – touch – our – children – again!" Molly screamed, but Bellatrix just laughed manically, clearly thrilled by the rise she'd gotten out of Mrs. Weasley. But her moment of glee had just cost Bellatrix everything as Molly's curse soared beneath her arm, hitting her just above her heart. Her smile froze and her eyes widened, clearly understanding what had just happened. Then she toppled over like a tower of books, landing on the floor to the whoops of many and the scream of one.

The fury from Belllatrix's death had been enough to send all three of Voldemort's attackers soaring through the end, flailing wildly before leading with a thud on the stone floor. It was just as Voldemort turned his anger and his wand on Mrs. Weasley that Harry revealed himself.

"That's our boy!" James cheered, kissing Lily sloppily on the head in his glee.

"He sure likes to drag out a moment," Marlene said to cover the anxiety settling in her stomach. She'd watched this boy grow up his entire life, watch his parents and loved ones die, even if he didn't know who she was he'd get quite a telling if he arrive in within the next few minutes.

"Not many have managed to out-smart Voldemort," Remus said, looking over Tonk's pink head at the blonde woman. "You can't blame him for wanting him to know just how he's lost."

"So it all comes down to this," Harry whispered and Marlene didn't think before latching onto Sirius' hand (Fred having released her after Bellatrix's death), gripping it with a white knuckled grip. He didn't complain, he's spent nearly twelve years thinking of nothing but how to get his revenge on Peter, how Harry and Remus were handling life and how wonderful it would feel to have Marlene's skin against his own one last time. Now he was going to do anything but let her go again. "Does the wand in your hand know its last master was disarmed? Because if it does … I am the true master of the Elder Wand." The silence that followed Harry's words was deafening, even to those who had already died standing atop the platform, watching the two locked together below. One, a man hungry for the power he would never deserve, and the other, a boy who'd had too much taken from him already and just wanted to survive.

" _Avada Kedavra_!"

" _Expelliarmus_!"

The two voices bellowed at one another and the gasps that ensued were full of awe and amazement as they watched the two points where the golden flames of the two spells collided, the cannon sounding bang still echoing in their ears. The light was almost blinding, but no one - living or dead - could fight against the need to stare.

When Voldemort's wand left his hand and flew towards Harry, his parents were already cheering. Sirius and James hugging like brothers, Lily wrapping her arms around Remus' neck as she cried with happiness. Even Marlene let out a cheer, jumping slightly with glee as she hugged the two people nearest to her – Dorcas and Fred.

"He fucking did it" Marlene shrieked, thrilled when she saw how Voldemort fell, his arms splayed out and his slit pupil eyes rolling back in his head. "Take that you vindictive Bastard!" she whooped and felt as arms wrapped around her waist, spinning her around. Before she could question it there were lips on hers, familiar lips that smiled into the kiss. She'd never seen Sirius' this alive, ever since Azkaban, even since he'd joined her his eyes had been shadowed with the horrors he'd face and his slowly depleting sanity. But that was gone now as he smiled down at her, the stormy grey eyes of the teenager she'd grown to love looking back at her.

"It's over," Sirius breathed, smiling broadly as he looked into Marlene's still young face, even more beautiful as the day he'd seen her last. He'd seen her in her coffin at the funeral, her body being one of the few that was presentable for people's eyes, her father and brother having been mauled and torn apart. She'd been pale, her hair duller than he'd ever seen, her eyes closed. That was the moment his heart had truly broken, the second that her loss really hit him, seeing her still and lifeless in the wooden casket, her favourite dress looking so strange on her empty body.

"Is he going to be here?" Tonk's asked, pulling away slightly from Remus' grip, his chin still resting atop her head.

"I bloody well hope so!" Marlene said to a few laughs, despite the seriousness of her comment. "I'd like to show that bastard what I really think of him." She said, looking between all those around her. He may have only killed three of them personally, but everyone who stood on that platform was dead for a reason, and he was the source of that reason.

"There's no point, Marlene," Dorcas said, her cheeks tinged pink as she stood between Fred and Tonks, her smile brighter than Marlene thought she'd ever see again. "He died an ordinary man, just like he always feared. That punishment enough."

"Hardly," Marlene grumbled, but she let the issue drop, deciding that perhaps being happy was all the really mattered in this moment, just basking in their victory.

"I don't even think there was enough of his soul left for him to get here," Lily commented, watching as Harry was embraced by all those who loved him, surrounded by the ecstatic cheers of both students, teachers and helpers, all of them warriors and hero's till the end.

"Good. Let him rot." Marlene said and felt Sirius kiss her forehead, his arm snaking around her waist as he held her closer.

"Do you think he's going to be okay now?" Tonks asked, looking between the faces of people she both knew and those she was anxious to know.

"I think he's going to be more than okay." James said, watching as Harry placed the Elder Wand where it would never be used again, a feeling of such profound pride over coming him.

"I think he's going to be happy." Lily said, tears still falling from her eyes as she watched her son, the boy who lived as he began on his next great adventure, his whole life still ahead him one filled with love and all the things he'd spent so long without.

"So what now?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"I think it's time we catch our train." Remus said, looking down at the bubbly woman in his arms, watching the way her face broke into a smile.

"What about your son?" Fred asked, "Don't you want to make sure he's alright?"

"I think he's going to be perfectly fine." Remus said proudly and everyone shared a nod of understanding, knowing how that little boy was going to be the most loved out of them all. "As will George."

"What?" Fred asked, his eyes widening, "I didn't-"

"We know your worried." Dorcas said with a soft smile, placing her arm on the man's arm reassuringly.

"If he's anything like his twin then he'll be fine." James said with a bright smile, already liking the other young man with the prankster heart. "Besides, now you can meet the true pranksters of your family." He said, beaming, but Fred just raised a curious eyebrow.

"Gideon and Fabian." Sirius breathed out, rubbing his eyes while Marlene, to everyone's surprise reddened slightly. Everyone else shared a laugh, Tonks and Fred shared equally confused glances while they looked at the blushing blonde who, to her credit, stood up a little straighter, pushing her shoulders back to stand taller.

"What did you do?" Tonks asked Marlene, who opened her mouth to reply but Sirius cut her off.

"Both of them." He said with slight chuckle, receiving a smack from the blonde.

"That was supposed to be a secret." She said, her blue eyes narrowing while Lily gaped in amazement.

"I thought it was just Gideon!" she said at the same moment Dorcas said "I thought it was only Fabian."

"You're really something, you are." Fred said with a laugh, eyeing the blonde with a smirk. Marlene just shrugged, unashamed by the compliment.

"That she is," Sirius said, pulling her closer. She only resisted for a moment.

"Time to go then." Dorcas said with a smile, one that was returned by each of those around her.

The train arrived not two minutes after she'd spoken, the red steam engine they'd all boarded so many times emerging on the track shrouded in a light mist. With one last look at the boy below Lily and James led the group, boarding the train with the same glint in their eyes that Marlene had seen so many times, the excited gleam that meant a new adventure was just on the horizon. Remus and Tonks followed, their fingers entwined as Remus helped his wife over the gap, ever the gentleman. After tearing his eyes away from his brother who sat alone in the living room they'd grown up in, Fred followed, Dorcas on his heel, leaving just Sirius and Marlene alone on the platform.

"Planning to stay?" Sirius asked, his breath by her ear as she watched the scene below. She'd never been fortunate enough to meet the young man that was standing below, but she'd wished she had, even if it was just to hold him in her arms as a baby. And yet, she'd never been so proud of anyone in her entire short life, not even her own siblings. This boy had overcome obstacles that would flatten most people, breaking them beyond the point of return, but as she watched the boy below, wrapping the ginger haired girl in his arms, she knew that Harry Potter had a strength inside him the trumped any others. A strength she'd always admired.

Reaching behind her, she gripped Sirius' hand in her own, feeling as he wrapped his arms around her middle, their clasped hands lying flat against her stomach.

"No," she breathed, a sense of excitement coming over her listened to Sirius' breathing in her ear, a sensation so small she'd never realised just how much shed missed it. "I think I've kept them waiting long enough." She said, turning to look up into the older man's face. He may have aged without her, but she couldn't deny how she'd ached for him ever since she'd woken up on this platform. It had killed her to see all he'd been through, he deserved all the happiness he could get. "It's time you met my family," she said with a smile before pressing her lips to his in a quick, soft kiss.

"I suppose death is the next great adventure." He said with a smile, Marlene gently pulling him towards the train their friends had already boarded.

There they sat, surrounded by the people they loved, the way they had years ago with a few new exceptions. Lily and James were wrapped in each other's arms, their foreheads pressed together and their eyes shut. Remus and Tonks sat opposite, Remus's arm slung around Tonks shoulder holding her close as she kissed his cheek, her hair flashing wild colours as she laughed slightly. Fred and Dorcas were talking like they'd known one another for years, friendly smiles and jokes exchanged easily as Marlene and Sirius settled themselves down on the opposite side of the compartment. Marlene sat herself in Sirius' lap, her head nestled in the hollow of his shoulder as his arms wrapped around her, her blonde hair falling down back as he stroked his fingers through it.

It was finally over, the war was won and they were all where they were supposed to be, even if it wasn't what they wanted. And as the train lurched into movement with the familiar jolt that sent prickles of excitement through her veins, all Marlene could think was that she was finally going to be reunited with the people she loved. It was time to go home and all was well.


End file.
